A Different Shade of Red
by TriassicDragonRanger
Summary: Sequel to A New White Light. Conner's visions of the Machine Empire keeps coming to him, depriving him of his sleep. He thinks it's nothing but when his birth parents and the original team vanish he's put into a position to bring together a group to go and save them against a forgotten force.
1. Prolouge

The moon had been a place of many battles, and even the home of some forces of evil that wished to take over the world. But more importantly it was the final resting place for the generals of the Machine Empire, defeated by the red rangers of ten different teams. Lying across the barren land was the destroyed remains of the once power Serpentera, destroyed in it's last battle by the current team's leader, Cole Evans. Just look at the destroyed remains and one could get a sense of power that the zord once held and it was any wonder how someone was even able to beat it. Lord Zedd, and even General Venjix, both had attempted to use this mighty zord and both had failed.

Near Serpentera's mouth a cloaked figure dug through the debris, what it was looking for was anyone guess. As it pushed scrap after scrap of metal away the being seemed to not find what it was looking for, up until a black hand fell from behind on of the scraps he moved aside. The cloaked figure seemed excited as he rushed to move the rest of the debris revealing the rest of what, or as it now seems who, it was looking for. General Venjix, battered and broken after his fight with the ten red rangers, laid in near pieces and as the figure moved him from his resting place its hand came out to show a gleam of metal that came apart to for a blow torch.

The figure worked until Venjix was repaired, his body looking as new as the day it was made to serve his king, but even after being repaired Venjix refused to move. The figure moved to pull back its hood to reveal a nearly broken Cog, the Cog looking down at Venjix before removing his cloak.

"I have finally found General Venjix," it said in a monotone voice, "finally the revival of the Machine Empire can commence."

Touching its chest the Cog pulled out it's power source and started to jerk around as it placed it on top of Venjix's chest.

"General Venjix must...must be...revived," it stated as it felt its power start to drain away, "at any cost."

The Cog fell to the ground, now out of power, and as it hit the ground the power source that it placed on Venjix started to pulse a faint light before slowly sinking into the fallen general. As it finished entering Venjix an eerie silence befell the moonscape, Venjix and the Cog lying there on the ground until his hand final moved to make a fist. One by one his functions started to come back until his eyes lit up and he could finally move his body.

"What is going on here?" Venjix asked sitting up and looking around, "the last thing that I remember is…"

Memories of him and the other Machine Empire generals fighting the ten red rangers, him getting into Serpentera, and finally that blasted red ranger that destroyed not just the zord he was piloting but him as well.

"Of course I was destroyed by the red Wildforce ranger," he recalled angrily, "I was defeated by an unseasoned rat!"

Standing up Venjix looked over at Serpentera and saw its destroyed remains, his anger growing even more.

"Those rangers will pay for what they have done to the Machine Empire," Venjix vowed as he turned to look at the Cog, "feh a Cog brought be back to life huh, a valiant effort I suppose."

The general moved to make his way back to the building that they onced use to uncover Serpentera, finding that even with his newly revived life and fixed body he still wasn't going at one hundred percent. Entering the building he spotted King Mondo sitting where he was left.

"I must first figure out how long I was gone," Venjix said activating one of the computers, "now then computer tell me, what year is this, how long since we fought those red rangers?"

" _The year is 2017, seventeen years since your fight against the ten rangers,"_ the computer replied, Venjix slamming his fist on the keyboard.

"What it's been that long?" he growled, trembling in anger, "I swear that I'll get my revenge on those rangers but for now…"

He turned to face King Mondo once again, the fallen emperor sitting in his throne, and moved to stand in front of him.

"I must bring back King Mondo and from there the rest of the Royal Family," he claimed moving to activate him, "it's risky but if the rumors are right then the power of one of the Machine Empire's generals should be enough to bring him back."

Opening the King's back Venjix grabbed a cord so that he could transfer some of his power to bring back his king. But as soon as they connected to each other Venjix could feel his power instantly drop to zero with nothing to show for it.

"Impossible!" he growled yanking the cord from him, "I don't have near enough power to bring back our king."

Walking to stand in front of our King Mondo, Venjix bowed in front of him and apologized.

"Forgive me my King, I don't have the required power to bring you back to your full strength."

Looking out he saw spare parts of his fallen generals and noticed that each of their chest, where their power source would be, were still fully intact.

"But maybe I'll be able to soon…"

It took him awhile, hours of making sure that everything was perfectly intact and that there wasn't going to be anything to compromise their King, but he was finally able to set up what he believed to be what would bring his king back.

"Finally after all these years, after your defeat at the hands of those who stood against you, you'll finally be able to come back and lead us to glorious victory," Venjix proclaimed, turning on the device.

Sparked flew off the power sources, and the energy of the building fluctuated, Venjix standing there the entire time watching his king closely. The power started to grow more and more by the second and it seemed like King Mondo wasn't powering up.

"This should work, why isn't he waking up?" Venjix asked watching the sparks fly.

Reaching up to check King Mondo Venjix was suddenly was pushed back by an explosion, making him hit the wall and the lights went out. Groaning Venjix pushed himself up and was only able to see the spots that were lit up by that sparks of electricity that came from the busted wires.

"K-king Mondo?" he called out, "Have you been revived?"

No response came, Venjix standing up and holding his now busted arm as he limped over to where he hoped the computer would be. Touching the keyboard he got to work to bring back the power to the building but found that nothing he did worked. Figuring that he had failed and his best bet would be to find a way to take on the rangers himself he got ready to leave when the lights came on above him. It wasn't much, merely lighting up the small section that he stood in, but one by one the lights started to come up in a row until it illuminated King Mondo. The fallen king sat there for a second before his hand twitched, and slowly but surely his functions started to return to him.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" he called out as he started back up, Mondo stopping and looking around for a second to see where he was, "what is this place, why am I here?"

"My king!" Venjix said limping over and kneeling before him, "it is good to see you alive and well again."

"And you ar...oh General Venjix yes now I remember you," Mondo said standing up, "tell me general where are we?"

"We are on an abandoned building on the moon my king," Venjix replied without hesitation, "it once housed me and the other generals and a small army of Cogs as we tried to get revenge for your untimely destruction."

Memories of his fight on Earth and of the rangers who defeated him came flooding back and Mondo clenched his staff as he looked around, spotting the fallen zord that laid outside.

"And what is that?"

"That is the remains of Serpentera," Venjix replied shamefully, "we were planning on using it to destroy the Earth."

"And the other members of the Royal Family where are they?" Mondo huffed.

"Forgive me my king but we were only able to obtain you, though we did manage to find the location of the rest of Royal family."

"I see, we'll send some Cogs to retrieve them then," Mondo ordered walking pass them, "where are the Cogs."

"Gone my king," Venjix responded standing up, "as are the rest of the generals."

"What impossible," Mondo declared turning to face them, "you're telling me that none of my Empire remains?"

"Forgive me my king but the rangers saw to the destruction of your glorious Empire," Venjix apologized bowing once more, "we are all that is left."

Mondo growled and turned away from his general again as he walked toward the door to look out over the barren moonscape.

"Very well, we'll start rebuilding my Empire by building some Cogs there's enough scrap here to do that, then we shall go about retrieving the rest of my family," he said gruffly, "those rangers will pay for what they have done to us, starting with those pesky Zeo rangers and their loved ones."

Turning back around Venjix saw his king grin and wondered what exactly he had planned.

"Besides it's been awhile since I've gotten my hands dirty, this should be fun."

A/N: the start of A Different Shade of Red is finally here. I expected it to be out later than this but certain events in my life have allowed me the liberty to actually sit down and write this as I write Power Rangers Triassic Surge. I know that the opening and the revival of King Mondo and General Venjix is a bit out there but bare with me I couldn't think of another way to bring them back without wanting to bash my head into a wall continuously. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out but rest assure I am typing it as you read this chapter, until it is up enjoy this beginning and may the power protect you all.

Update: I had to change one tiny little thing in this chapter and that is the year in which this story happened, cause really I'm rubbish with the space time continuum. Now as for the timeline in what I'm dubbing the Oliver-verse (Consisting of A New Green Ranger, Forever Red 2, A New White Light, and of course this story, with the first two being one possibility and the second another). This timeline follows the original PR timeline up until the Space Rangers, 1993-1998 are the same as the show, after the events of Countdown to Destruction all of the rangers up until then got together to celebrate which is where Conner was conceived. After that everything also goes as planned with the events of Dino thunder happening in 2016, pushing everything after dino thunder up. In my defense I never really saw anything saying what year it was in the show, if there was oh well it's my story


	2. Chapter 1

_Zeo V ducked underneath King Mondo's staff, quickly kicking him in the back before sidestepping Prince Gasket. He wasn't sure as to why the two were working together, from what he could recall the two didn't really get along. But as the saying goes the enemy of my enemy is my friend._

" _You have been nothing but an annoyance," Mondo declared facing the red ranger, "and here I had hoped that once I captured you that I would finally be rid of you pesky Zeo Rangers."_

" _So tell us how did you come here?" Gasket demanded pointing at Zeo V, "Are you a younger version brought here to stop us."_

" _You wish I was a younger version, you might have been able to at least have a chance at beating me then," Zeo V taunted, "as for how I came here...well let's just say you need to invest in some new locks for your backdoor."_

 _Mondo and Gasket growled in anger, lunging forward to attack their red foe, rolling underneath them Zeo V looked around to spot the other Zeo rangers fighting off the other members of the Machine Empire. Zeo Rangers I and II fighting Queen Machina and Princess Archerina, while Zeo Rangers III and IV fought General Venjix and the older rangers fought the Cogs._

" _Stay still red ranger," Gasket barked as he attacked him._

" _Zeo Power Sword," Zeo V called out as he spun around._

 _A flash of red light appeared in his hand as a sword appeared, Zeo V meeting Gasket's attack and knocking him back. Twirling his sword in his hand the red ranger pointed the sword at his opponents and chuckled._

" _Hope you guys didn't have any plans for after this," he said getting into a fighting stance, "cause you're not leaving this place."_

Conner gasped as he sat up in his bed, sweat covering his body as he looked around the room. Everything seemed normal, from the cloths lying on the ground to Kira sleeping on the opposite side of the bed, the sheets covering her naked frame from sight. Groaning the red Dino Thunder ranger got out of bed, put on his boxers, made his way to the ensuite bathroom, turned on the water, and splashed his face with the cold liquid.

'Another dream?' he wondered looking in the mirror, 'no…a vision?'

Conner shook his head to clear his mind, looking over to the side to see his and Kira's morphers resting on the countertop, all three of them. It had been just over a year since their fight with Goldar, since he became the newest White Ranger, but it felt like it all just happened. After he obtained the White Tiger coin his dreams about the white ranger had stopped, but he then started to have dreams about Zeo V. Originally he had hoped to talk to his father about it but the dreams stopped after awhile, only now just starting to come back and starting to include the other Zeo Rangers.

"Why can't I have a normal life?" he groaned leaning over the sink, "we beat Messagog, saved the world, why can't you just give me this Zordon?"

"Trouble sleeping?"

Conner looked up into the mirror and saw Kira standing there, sheets wrapped around her body as she smiled softly at him. The yellow Dino Thunder Ranger had that 'I just woke up look' to her, with her hair a mess, not a speck of makeup on her, and her eyes still showing how tired she was. Still she was the most beautiful thing that Conner ever saw.

"I didn't mean to wake you up," he admitted looking back at the sink, "it's early why don't you go back to sleep?"

"I would love to," Kira replied walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his chest, "but my heat source left the bed."

Conner chuckled and turned around to face her, kissing her forehead and hugged her back. The two stood there in silence holding each other before Kira pulled back and gave him a smile.

"Well it might be early but why don't I make breakfast?"

"Yeah sounds great," Conner replied grinning, "I'll be there in a few I'm going jogging."

"Okay," the blonde replied walking out of the bathroom, "be careful."

Conner grabbed his windbreaker pants and a red tank, putting them on before checking under the bed to find his shoes. Heading outside of his apartment he went down the stairs and stretched heading off down the street towards the park. Ever since he and Kira had moved in with each other they had been pushing each other to continue working out to keep up with the past rangers, after all just because they weren't active anymore didn't mean they had to stop being prepared. Who knew maybe one day the two of them would have to team up with all the known ranger teams to save the Earth from a robot invasion.

'Heh wouldn't that be something?' the red Dino Thunder ranger chuckled to himself at that thought.

Reaching the park Conner looked around and smiled as he was one of the few people there that early in the morning, most of them were jogging like he was but he saw at least one familiar person out by the pond drawing in his sketch book. Giving Trent a quick wave, Trent waving back to him, Conner continued down the beaten path as his mind started to go back to the dream that he had the previous night.

'King Mondo, Prince Gasket, Queen Machina and Princess Archerina, even Venjix,' he thought frowning, 'why would I dream of them and the Zeo rangers, as far as I know Dad said that the Zeonizers were locked away until they were needed, and the royal family and their generals were destroyed.'

Shaking his head the red ranger picked up the speed as he reached a hill, pushing himself to go as fast as ge could without his dino powers. As he reached the top he stopped for a second to catch his breath, checking his pulse and looking out over the park. He smiled as he saw just how beautiful it looked in the morning. In the beginning of his run as the red Dino Thunder ranger he didn't know what he was really fighting for, it wasn't until he saved a little girl that it became clear to him. After that he saw the world in a new light, saw just how beautiful it was, and he knew in the bottom of his heart that this was what he was fighting for.

'Hard to believe that anyone would want to harm this world,' he mused, closing his eyes and feeling the wind caress his face.

Turning back around Conner started the second part of his morning run and headed home, ready to eat the breakfast his beautiful girlfriend made.

Just outside of Reefside, in a rather large house in the woods, Dr. Tommy Oliver groaned as he started to wake up. He tried to fight back against waking up, wanting to return to sleep, it was Saturday after all so he wasn't required to go anywhere that day. Besides the beautiful woman lying next to him was still asleep so why should he be awake?

"Ugh, what time is it?" came a groggy voice next to him.

So strike that she was awake. Looking over to his bedside table that ranger of many colors groaned and noted with disdain.

"It's a quarter till eight…"

A musical laugh and a shift kiss was his reply.

"Someone's not a morning person," she teased, a playful glint in her eyes, "and here I thought you were a teacher."

"Don't be fooled, there are some teachers that despise the mornings," he replied with a kiss, "I can't tell you how many mornings I've had to avoid Principal Mercer because she didn't have her morning coffee yet."

This got Kim to laugh again as she pushed herself out of the bed and picked up her robe, Tommy frowning as he sat up.

"Where you going so early?"

"I'm going to shower and start breakfast," Kim explained looking back at him, "we have Jason and Kat coming over for breakfast so I want to get ready."

Tommy groaned and laid back down as his newly dubbed wife left their room into the ensuite bathroom. Once he heard the water running he got up and made his way into his office, turning on the lights and smiling slightly as he looked at the pictures he had in there. The first one was of when he was fourteen, having just joined the rangers as the green ranger. The second was of him and Kim when they just started dating, making his grin even more at the memories. The next few were pictures of the Zeo team, with Jason, the first Turbo team, and the Dino Thunder teen after Trent joined them. The final two though held even more sentimental value to him. The first one was a picture of him, Kim, and Conner, their first family picture that was taken after the events that brought Goldar to their time. The second was a picture of him and Kimberly, Tommy dressed in a black tux with a white shirt, red tie, and green pocket hankie, while Kimberly was dressed in a flowing white wedding dress with pink highlights.

'How much has changed in just one year," he thought picking up that picture, 'I have a wife, a son, and if everything works out I might even have a daughter-in-law soon, everything seems to finally be falling into place.'

"That's one of my favorite memories," Kim admitted hugging him from behind, "it's when I was finally able to say you were mine."

"You were always able to call me yours beautiful," he remarked kissing the top of her head.

Kim smiles softly and rested her head against his chest for a few seconds before pushing away with the knowledge that their friends would be there soon. Shaking his head Tommy followed her and grabbed a cup of coffee before heading to the balcony where they would be eating. It didn't take long for him to hear the doorbell go off, followed by Kim greeting their guest. Seconds later his oldest friend came out with a cup of coffee as well and took his seat next to him.

"Morning," that original green remarked without looking.

"Morning to you too bro," Jason replied in kind, "Starting to get cooler."

"Well it is that beginning of fall," Tommy chuckled.

Jason grinned and took a sip from his drink, allowing the dark liquid to warm him up. The two looked out over the woods in Tommy's backyard and allowed the morning silence to reign for a while, knowing full well that once their wives came out conversations would ensue. Sure enough as soon as Kimberly and Kat came out and sat down the rest of the morning meal was spent chatting about different things, mostly about their time as rangers.

Stories were passed around and memories brought back to the forefront of the mind, all the while laughter and smiles were shared. As the meal ended and the women went inside to clean up the two arguably most powerful rangers sat and continued to talk.

"So how are things going with the family?" Jason queried, looking over at his friend.

"Things are fine," Tommy shrugged, "I mean Conner just graduated and he was eighteen when I found out so really nothing has changed."

"Except for him now wielding one of your old power coins?"

This made Tommy laugh.

"Yeah there's that," he replied shaking his head, "at least he didn't get the green ranger powers."

"Yeah imagine what that would have been like," Jason chuckled, "he might have done something crazy like combine the Dragonzord powers with his Triassic powers."

"And then Zeltrax could come back and we'd have to have another all red mission with even more reds," Tommy added with a grin.

The two laughed at how absurd that sounded, figuring nothing like that could EVER happen. As they calmed down Tommy looked out over his yard and frowned as he could've sworn he saw something out behind the tree line.

"Everything okay bro?" the original red asked frowning.

"Y-yeah, I just...I could've sworn i saw a Cog," he muttered shaking his head.

"A Cog? One of Mondo's goons?" Jason asked skeptically, "Uh Tommy the Machine Empire is gone."

"Yeah I know that," The original green sighed, "guess I'm just seeing things."

"Maybe it was a deer?" Jason suggested, Tommy nodding in agreement.

"Yeah maybe it was."

The two stood up and headed back inside, both missing the Cog vanishing.


	3. Chapter 2

The roar of Tommy's jeep was something that always made him smile, and as he cruised down the road with nowhere in particular in mind he couldn't help but to notice that his longtime friend was grinning just as big as he was. Seeing the park up ahead Tommy decided that it was as good a place as any to relax and pulled into the parking lot, opening up the door for his wife as Jason jumped out and did the same for Kat.

"She's sounding great bro," Jason remarked, patting the hood of the car.

"Yeah it helps when you worked on cars for a while after graduation," he replied grinning, "and my uncle really hooked me up with some top of the line parts."

"It also pays that one of your friends is a millionaire with the thought that he needed to repay you for saving him," Kimberly added wrapping her arms around his.

"Really wish he wouldn't have done that," the black ranger admitted shaking his head, "I told him time and time again that we were just doing the right thing but…"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it Tommy," Kat assured him, "Anton was just doing what he thought was right himself."

The second pink ranger smirked as she looked at the power couple.

"And if it bugs you that much then you can just put it away for when the two of you have another child."

Kimberly, who had been taking a sip from her water bottle at the moment, sputtered and looked at her successor with wide eyes. Grinning Kat bolted before Kim could do anything, both the pink rangers now running around as if they were kids again. Shaking their heads Tommy and Jason followed their wives with amused grins as they watched the two girls laugh and play around. Sitting on a nearby bench the two allowed themselves to be at peace, Tommy closing his eyes.

"This is what life should be like," he said just loud enough for Jason to hear him, "no monsters or earth destroying threats, just friends hanging out and living life."

"Yeah feels goods," Jason agreed with a nod.

"The only thing that could make this better is if we had a couple of kids to watch over while they run around."

Jason looked over at him with his eyebrow cocked, Tommy rolling his eyes in response.

"You know what I mean Jase, Conner being our son is great but he's eighteen I didn't get to raise him to be a proper family with Kim."

"I get ya," the red ranger smiled, "me and Kat have been wanting to start a family but since we're newly married we're a little hesitant."

Tommy barked out a laugh and shook his head.

"Look at us, we're in our mid thirties and the only kid I have didn't even know I was his dad until just a year ago, we better hurry up or Andros and the other reds are going to leave us in the dust."

"Who all have kids besides Andros?" the original red asked out of curiosity.

"Andros and Ashley have a boy and girl, TJ and Cassidy have twins on the way, Leo and Karone have a daughter, and Carter and Dana are expecting as well," he counted off, "the only couple that don't have kids yet are Wes and Jen, and Cole and Alyssa."

Jason whistled and nodded.

"Yeah we need to pick up the pace."

The two looked at each other and laughed. It wasn't a matter of how quickly they started their family and they knew that, and it wasn't as if their wives haven't hinted at the idea of starting one. The air around them then grew quiet as they sat there, memories of what Tommy saw earlier that morning coming back to him as he frowned. Seeing that his friend was growing tense Jason reached over and patted his shoulder.

"You going to be okay?"

"...Not sure," Tommy muttered lowly, "I swear that I saw a Cog, I wouldn't just imagine that but…"

"But the Machine Empire was destroyed years ago, and the generals are nothing but piles of scrap on the moon after that red mission," Jason finished, Tommy nodding in agreement, "I understand Tommy I really do it's unnerving seeing an enemy from the past."

"It's not just that Jase, what if it's something more, what if the Machine Empire has for some strange reason come back?" Tommy challenged, Jason grinning.

"I think that's just a bit out there bro."

"Is it though?" Tommy asked looking at him, "we're power rangers Jason, we were part of the original team, what have we seen that would make what I just said crazy?"

Jason frowned and looked back out towards the girls, his muscles tensing as he thought over everything they been through. It wasn't crazy and he knew that, he just didn't want to admit it. He was well aware of the potential of a random villain coming back to get revenge, hell he and Kimberly were kidnapped and sacrificed to a demon on a hidden island, but a part of him had wished that it was over, that they wouldn't have to fight anymore. He wouldn't even be surprised if they were all summoned to fight in some kind of 'Legendary War' in the future with all known rangers and some possible future teams.

"Should we tell Kim and Kat?" he wondered, Tommy shaking his head and sighing.

"I don't want to, I would like to keep them away from fighting if we're going to try to start a family in the near future," Tommy admitted, "but you know they'd be pissed off if we don't tell them."

"And we'd be in the doghouse till the end of time," Jason muttered.

Closing his eyes the original red thought it over and nodded, they needed to tell them and they needed to tell them soon. If they held off for very long and something happened involving the Machine Empire then they would just be in worse trouble. Calling their wives over to them, Kimberly having finally managed to tackle Kat to the ground, and the four of them made their way over to somewhere that they wouldn't be heard.

"Is everything okay?" Kat asked concerned.

"We're not sure," Jason admitted, "it's probably nothing but…"

"But the two of you deserve to know," Tommy finished with a serious tone.

The two pink rangers looked at each other and then back at their lover with concern, the seriousness that Tommy had telling them that something could very well being going on.

"Like Jason said it might not be anything, but earlier this morning, just after the two of you went back inside to clean the breakfast mess, we swore we saw a Cog out amongst the tree line at mine and Kim's house," Tommy explained, Kat's eyes going wide.

"A Cog!" she hissed clenching her fist.

"Cog, that's...a Machine Empire minion right?" Kim asked as she tried to recall the minions she didn't fight.

"Yeah they are," Jason nodding, "more dangerous than the Putties or those bird things you guys fought after we left."

"Tengas," Kim muttered frowning, "this isn't good."

"But the Machine Empire is gone," Kat reminded them, "how is a Cog still operating?"

"We don't know," Tommy replied shaking his head, "Kat if you would contact Tanya I'll call Adam and Rocky and tell them to be on the lookout, if there really was a Cog at my house then they might be looking for us."

Kat nodded and pulled out her phone, Jason pulling out his and saying he'd call Rocky and Billy. As the two left to make their calls Kimberly hugged Tommy, the multi colored ranger hugging her back and kissing the top of her head.

"Everything is going to be okay beautiful," he promised, Kim snorting in response.

"I know it will be, it wouldn't be our team if it wasn't," she replied, her smile falling slightly, "should we tell Conner and his team? I hate for them to get hurt cause they weren't prepared."

"Only if their needed," he replied making her frown.

"Tommy…"

"Kim please," the red Zeo ranger pleaded, "I don't want others to worry, this is the problem of the Zeo rangers and we'll take care of it."

"And what of me handsome?" the pink ranger challenged, "am I to sit to the side and watch as you run off to fight once again?"

"No, no it's not like that Kimberly," he promised apologetically, "you're as much of this team as any of us, just like Billy is but Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent don't need to worry about this they have their own lives to live."

Kim looked at him with a sad smile, the original pink ranger cupping his cheek and making him look at her.

"Conner's our son, and Kira might as well already be our daughter-in-law, they deserve to know," she urged him, "and Ethan and Trent are a part of our family as well, our ranger family."

Tommy sighed, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders yet again. Kim was right, they needed to know it was only right that the be prepared. But still something held him back, something in the back of his mind told him that he needed to prepare a counterattack if something happened to the Zeo team.

"I'll tell them if we need them," Tommy assured her, Kim frowning again, "I promise beautiful, if something happens that we can't handle on our own or that forces the Dino Thunder team to act, Zordon forbid, then I'll bring them into help."

Kim nodded, knowing that this was the best she was going to get at the moment. Still it was better than nothing and one look at her husband told her that he had a plan going through his mind. Just as Tommy finished up calling Adam to warn him of what he saw Jason and Kat were walking back, the four of them climbing back into the jeep to head back to the Oliver household.

Back in Reefside Trent was sitting on the edge of a flower bed facing the water fountain, his sketchbook on in his lap and a pencil in his hand as he drew the fountain and the people around the area. He smirked as he looked up to get another detail to add to his drawing, finishing up the drawing as he placed the finishing touch on a couple sitting on the bench under the shadow of the tree. Double checking everything the white Dino Thunder ranger smiled as he gave his drawing an approving nod.

"Heh guess it's about time to go meet the others," he said looking at the time on his phone.

Placing his art supplies up he stood up and headed towards Cyberspace to meet his friends, turning down an alleyway that he normally used as a shortcut. As he walked down the alleyway he stopped when he thought he heard something behind him, but a quick look told him that no one was there.

"Okay that was weird," he muttered frowning, "guess it was just a cat."

Turning back around he soon found himself being kicked to the ground, his backpack getting knocked away and the contents scattering everywhere. Groaning Trent clutched his stomach and looked up, wondering who's ass he would be kicking when he noticed multiple robotic figure surrounding him.

"Well you guys aren't Tyrannodrones," he stated standing up, "so what are you doing here?"

"To send a message," the Cog in front of him stated.

"And what would that be?"

"The Machine Empire is back for revenge," the Cog answered, attacking afterwards.

Trent leaned back to avoid the attack, fighting off others as they advanced on him. It wasn't hard, these things were about as tough as the Tyrannodrones that it was like riding a bike to him. One by one the robotic minions fell to the ground as he pulled off move after move, switching between offense and defence seamlessly. Grinning as defeated the last one the white Dino Thunder ranger rolled his shoulder and went about picking up his objects when he sensed someone behind him.

"You know man," he said turning to face him, "I'm going to be late seeing my friends if you don't get out of my way."

Standing in front of him now was a black beetle looking robot, General Venjix if he recalled, and it didn't look like he was going to let him go anywhere.

"Shouldn't you be history?" the white ranger asked putting his bag down again.

"That is none of your concern white ranger," Venjix replied, pointing at him.

"Oh so you know me?" he teased, "then you should know who trained me."

"I'm well aware Tommy trained you," the general stated, "but all that matters is that the Zeo rangers know we're coming for them."

"Is that so? Trent grinned, "and how are you going to do that?"

Venjix lowered himself into a fighting stance, Trent mirroring him without hesitation so that he'd be ready for anything.

"By delivering them a battered body," Venjix replied matter-of-factly.

In a blur of motion he was upon Trent, pushing him back with a series of blows that the white ranger had a hard time keeping up with. A quick strike caused him to hit and knock over the trash cans, the white ranger looking up to see Venjix launching an energy attack. Grabbing a trash can lid he deflected the attack and looked at the now charred remains before tossing it to the side.

"I'll tell you this," Trent stated jumping up, "you're a lot tougher than your friends."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," the Machine General said getting back into a fighting stance.

Trent rushed forward, jumping over Venjix before he could hit him and spinning around to kick him. Venjix moved quickly then he thought though and he soon found his ankle being grabbed before being flung up against the brick wall. Falling to the ground with a groan Trent pushed himself up onto his hands and knees only to get kicked in the gut and then elbowed in the back. Another blow was delivered to his side and he was sent skidding down the alleyway.

"You fought well rangner," Venjix remarked picking him up by the shirt, "but even training under Tommy won't be enough to beat me."

"You're an idiot if you think you'll win," Trent grunted trying to free himself.

"We'll see about that."

Tossing him away Venjix fired off one more energy blast, one that struck Trent in the chest and knocked him out of the alleyway and into the street. Screams could be heard and Venjix watched as people started to surround the fallen ranger. With the knowledge that the message would be delivered to the Zeo rangers, be that by the ranger himself or by the battered body, the Machine Empire General turned and left to return to his King.


	4. Chapter 3

Conner, Kira, and Ethan were all in Conner's car as the red Dino Thunder ranger sped down the road towards the hospital. The team leader had just gotten a call from his mother that his father had gotten a call from Anton Mercer that Trent was injured badly and in the hospital, the red ranger calling his blue wearing friend and grabbing his girlfriend so they could go see him.

"Conner relax you're not going to help Trent by getting pulled over," Kira cautioned her boyfriend.

"I know that but still," he replied piling into the parking lot, "Trent was injured and it takes a lot to hurt a ranger."

"We're not exactly active anymore bro," Ethan reminded him as they climbed out of the car.

"True but a ranger could still handle himself in a fight, active or not," The red ranger stated frowning, "I'm just worried that there's something, or someone, out there wanting to hurt us."

"We're power rangers," Kira remarked thoughtfully, "Not to mention you're the son of two of the strongest rangers, we're bound to have people who want us gone."

Conner's frown didn't leave and the red ranger entered the hospital with his teammates in tow. They walked over to the reception desk and got directions to their friend's room, the three almost running down the hall to reach him when they saw Anton Mercer and Elsa standing outside the room talking hushly.

"Dr. and Principal Mercer," Kira said as they ran up to them.

"Kira, Conner, Ethan," Elsa greeted as she saw them, "thank you for coming, Trent would be happy to know you're here."

"What happened to him anyway?" Conner asked, opening the door slightly to look at his friend.

"We don't know we just got a call from the hospital that our son was hurt and we needed to get here," Anton explained, "We were actually going to ask you the same question."

"What do you mean?" Ethan asked confused.

"Last we knew Trent was going to visit you at Cyberspace," Elsa replied.

"We were just there waiting for him when we got the call from you," Conner replied closing the door, "we thought he was just held up."

"We were kinda right…"

"Not a good time Ethan," the yellow ranger told the blue ranger.

"Sorry."

"Anton," the group heard coming down the hall.

Turning to see who it was Conner wasn't surprised when his biological parents were walking down the hall to them. Tommy made his way over to Anton and gave his friend a hug, Anton returning the hug and patting Tommy on the back.

"We came as fast as we could," the original green ranger promised his friend, "how is he?"

"Doctor said that he'll have a mild concussion and some bruising, his left arm is broken and his right leg has a small break in it, but other then that the most troubling things is that he's unconscious," Anton recounted, "honestly I think that if he wasn't…"

He looked around to see if anyone was no one was listening in on their conversation.

"That if he wasn't a ranger it would have been a lot worse."

"I agree," Tommy nodded towards the door, "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Elsa replied with a smile, "he may not respond but it's good for him to have friends at this time."

The group walked inside the room and looked at their friend in white laid out on the bed, tubes inserted into his veins to give him some blood back that he lost, oxygen tube at his nose, and a cast on his left arm and right leg. In truth he had never looked more broken, even as their stint as rangers. Conner walked over and placed his hand over his friend's and looked down at him, an anger growing inside him as he wondered who he was going to pay back for this.

'I promise you Trent, whoever did this to you is going to pay,' Conner promised, his eyes flashing green.

Seeing the flash of green in his eyes, something that Kim noticed after seeing Conner get particularly angry at a training session, Kira walked over and placed her hand on his arm to calm him down. Kimberly had taught her to do that when Conner got angry saying that it was something that always calmed Tommy down. Feeling her warm hand touch him Conner looked over at Kira and gave her a nod to let her know that he was okay but the yellow ranger refused to move from his side.

"Ah Dr. and Mrs. Mercer," the doctor said as he walked in, "oh and friends as well, hello I'm Dr. Newton I'm helping young Trent."

"Dr. Oliver," Tommy greeted shaking his hand, "can you tell us what happened to him?"

"Well the report I got was that Mr. Mercer here was found when he was unexpectedly thrown from the alleyway and hit a nearby car at a rather high velocity," Dr. Newton explained looking at the clipboard, "upon inspection he was covered in bruises and cuts as if he were in some sort of fight but witnesses said they didn't see anyone in the alleyway or nearby baring similar injuries."

"Did the police say anything to you about who might have attacked him?" Conner asked the doctor.

"Nothing that wouldn't have been told to the parents," he replied pushing up his glasses, "now if you'll excuse me I need to check his vitals."

Conner nodded and moved to the side so that the doctor could do his work, the red ranger glancing over to the others. As the doctor went about checking everything and telling them that so far everything seemed fine, that they were more mostly waiting for him to wake up, the younger rangers couldn't help but feel useless as one of their friends laid there in front of them.

'I can't just stand here,' the red ranger thought darkly as he turned to leave.

Seeing that his son was heading out Tommy walked over to him and grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"Where are you going?"

"To check out where Trent was attacked, maybe the police missed something," Conner replied, Tommy smirking at his son's concern.

"I'd prefer if you didn't go out alone," the older Oliver stated patting his back, "take Kira and Ethan with you okay?"

"You think some monster attacked him too don't you?" Conner asked turning to face him.

"Let's call it a...a hunch," Tommy replied frowning, "but like I said just take Kira and Ethan with you, you guys are a team after all."

Conner nodded and motioned to his girlfriend and friend to follow him. As the three made their way to his car Kira noticed that Conner seemed to be deep in thought, the yellow ranger taking a hold of his hand to get his attention.

"Is something wrong my Tyranno?"

"...I don't know," he replied quietly, "but I'm sure I'll figure it out when we get to where Trent was attacked."

"You think foul play?" Ethan questioned getting into the car.

"I do, but I'm not quite sure what it is just yet," the red ranger admitted, "something about the attack and how spontaneous it was well it…"

He went silent, his teammates looking at him with concern and Kira rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand.

"It what Conner?" Kira asked softly.

"It scares me."

Ethan sat back in the back seat of the car and mulled over what his leader just told them. If something was frightening a red ranger then that wasn't something to be taken lightly.

"So what we just head to where Trent was taken down and check it out?" the blue ranger asked as the car started to move.

"That's all we can do right now," Conner replied, "but hopefully we'll be able to find something there."

"I hope we do," Kira whispered, the car pulling out onto the street and heading back to the city.

As the three left Tommy walked back over to Kim and wrapped his arm around her waist, Anton looking over at him.

"You know something don't you Tommy?" he asked with a frown.

"I have...an idea," the falcon ranger replied with a sigh, "but it's wasn't something that I thought would affect the Dino Thunder team."

"Tommy Oliver if you know something…" Elsa warned glaring at him.

"Elsa please calm down stress in your state isn't good for you," Kim cautioned motioning to the small bump in Elsa's belly.

Elsa blushed back stood down, taking a hold of Anton's hand but still glaring at Tommy. Tommy sighed once more and rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to think of the best way to explain this.

"I guess there's no better way to go about this then the truth," Tommy groaned shaking his head, "I've let one of my previous teams in on this because it affects them, but I have a feeling that the Machine Empire might be back for revenge."

"The Machine Empire?" Anton asked confused, "who's that?"

"A nasty enemy that the Zeo team fought," Kim replied, "under the command of King Mondo and Queen Machina."

"I didn't think you were a Zeo ranger," Elsa remarked.

"I wasn't but my friends and husband were so I was able to learn about them."

Elsa nodded, Anton frowning as he looked over at his adopted son.

"But why would this...Machine Empire attack Trent?"

"To get to us maybe, I'm not sure," Tommy admitted, "the King Mondo and the Royal family are gone though, so should there generals so I have no idea what's going on."

On the moon King Mondo was walking around the base, Cogs walking around with welding equipment working to fix up the building. As he looked around he nodded at the work being done.

"It appears that the work here is proceeding at a fast pace," he observed as Venjix appeared behind him, "and how was your mission?"

"It wasn't any of the Zeo rangers but I did manage to take down a ranger that I didn't recognize," Venjix reported, bowing to his king, "he claimed to be trained by Tommy."

"Tommy? You mean Tommy Oliver Zeo V?" Mondo demanded turning around.

"Yes sire."

"So he's still alive," the king huffed, "good my revenge wouldn't have been complete if any of them gone."

"Sire if I may ask, the others of the royal family have they been restored?" Venjix asked looking up from where he was kneeling.

"They are currently being repaired at them moment, it won't be much longer," Mondo informed his general, the two walking into a room off to the side.

Inside the room were four other robotic beings, two females and two males, all of them with wires attached to them. It appeared to the two that they were well on the way to being repaired but they still had some time until they were fixed, Cogs working on them as fast as they could.

"Once my beautiful wife and children are repaired, even that blasted female my eldest betrayed me to marry, than those Zeo rangers won't know what hit them."

A/N:

I know that this story hasn't had much action but I promise that I'm getting to it. For other power ranger things, and if you haven't seen it yet, head to Youtube and watch the first two episodes of Power Rangers Hyper Force! Until next time may the power protect you.


	5. Chapter 4

Sparks flew from the tools being used to restore the royal family, Mondo watching over them as Venjix commanded the Cogs in his stead. The return of his family was close, so very close, as was his vengeance against the rangers who had so callously destroyed him and his empire.

"The Zeo rangers' families will be the first to feel my wrath," Mondo promised as he looked upon his wife, "they shall know what it feels like to see their family broken just as I have, and then as they beg for mercy I'll destroy them."

A nasty crunching sound rang through the room and sparks flew in every which way making the Machine Empire king turn to the Cog working on his son.

"You fool," he bellowed smacking it with his staff, "do you wish to be melted down into spare parts for injuring the prince."

"Forgive me my king," the Cog begged stumbling back with it's hands held up.

King Mondo huffed and turned to Prince Gasket, his son and daughter-in-law resting on the table with their chest open and wiring hanging out as Cogs worked to fix them.

"Hurry up and finish fixing them you ingrates," the King demanded as he turned away, "for once they are repaired the rangers will finally be destroyed."

The Cogs made a noise of acknowledgement and got back to work, making sure that they didn't do anything that would harm the royal family. Mondo walked towards the entrance of the building and looked out upon the remains of Serpentera, Cogs out upon it tearing it apart for scrap metal. Out in the room to the right of him Venjix ordered Cogs around to create the arena that would be the resting place of the Zeo rangers, and after them the others that would dare to defy him. Another flash of sparks and Mondo turned around and watched as his eldest son started to move. The restraints that held him back released him and Gasket fell to the ground, catching himself at the last second before he hit his head. The first made prince felt his functions come back one by one and he tried to regain his bearings when he felt something touch him.

"Unhand me you underling!" he barked pushing the Cog away, "I'll destroy you for touching me!"

"I wouldn't advise that my son," Mondo responded helping him up, "We'll need all the power we can get and we're already short on Cogs."

Gasket stepped back as he saw his father before him, the Prince looking around to see his mother and wife being repaired.

"Wha…. What is going on here?" he asked confused, "What has happened to mother and Archerina?"

"Destroyed," Mondo replied, "and from what in understand it was by that blasted Zordon.""

"The last thing I remember is…" Gasket looked down and tried to recall what happened.

Flashes of him and Archerina escaping from his family, attempting the build their own Empire to combat said parents, a flash of bright light, and then...nothing.

"...A bright light."

"Yes from what I have gathered since being rebooted is Zordon was destroyed and as a result of that he released a wave of pure good energy that destroyed all of us," the king filled in, "we, that being your mother and me, were taking on the Phantom Ranger and and the Blue Senturion with our Cogs and the next thing I knew was I was being awoken by Venjix."

Gasket nodded as their stories seemed to line up, though looking around he had noticed one member of the family was missing.

"And where is Sprocket? I had figured you'd have brought him back instead of me."

"Sprocket is my son and I would have brought him back," Mondo stated walking past his son, "But the condition he was in was irreparable, besides I needed someone with more power than he does to assist me."

"Assist you in what?" Gasket queried.

"In destroying those meddlesome power rangers."

Conner, Ethan, and Kira had finally reached where Trent had been attacked and started to look around for anything that might given them a clue as to what happened. The trash cans that were in the alleyway were tossed about and dented, the lids laying on the ground allowing the trash to spill out.

"Well something happened here," Ethan grumbled as he looked around, "the question is, what?"

"Look around and leave no area unturned," Conner ordered as he moved around the alleyway.

His comrades nodded and got to work, moving aside any debris that might cover up what happened. As Kira looked around she found that she was having little to no luck in finding anything. Though as she pushed aside some trash she found a familiar backpack with art supplies spilling out.

"Hey guys I found Trent's bag," she called out holding it up for them to see.

The two male rangers ran over and looked at their friend's bag, noticing the newly created tears on it.

"Okay this isn't some normal mugging," the red ranger murmured looking it over.

"That's an understatement," Ethan huffed taking it from Kira, "this looks like it was almost slashed in two, look his art supplies are trashed as well."

"Is there anyway you could figure out what did this?" Kira asked her friend, Ethan shaking his head in response.

"None whatsoever…"

Conner sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He was hoping that they would find something that would help them, anything, but after half an hour of looking they still held no results.

"Maybe we're overthinking this," Conner suggested, "could we get a video of what happened here back at the base?"

"We might it might not be clear but we could possibly get an idea of who attacked," Ethan shrugged as he continued to look the bag over.

Conner nodded and the three turned to leave for their base when a group of Cogs appeared in their way.

"Whoa!" the blue ranger yelped stumbling back.

"What the hell?" Kira asked confused.

"Cogs?" Conner murmured as he looked at him, "but how?"

"You will be destroyed along with the Zeo rangers," one of the Cogs stated, the three rangers looking at each other.

"Um… he's joking right?" Kira asked pointing at the Cog.

"Not a very funny joke," Ethan replied.

Conner stepped forward and cracked his knuckles as he stared the Cog down.

"Let me guess you guys hurt our friend?"

"Incorrect," the Cog replied, "General Venjix was the one who first attacked while we…"

The Cog stopped what he was saying making the rangers look at him expectantly.

"Oh no… No no no you don't get to stop right there," the red ranger said shaking his head, "while you were what?"

"Irrelevant," the Cog respond, "what we were doing is of no concern of yours."

"Alright then, guess we get to do this the hard way."

The rangers split up to fight the Cogs, the Cogs retaliating as they were broken up into smaller groups. Ethan used his armored skin to block the Cogs fist, said Cog backing up and holding it's fist in surprise. Using this shock the blue ranger smacked the other Cog with Trent's bag, making a mental note to buy him a new one as it split apart, and knocked it's feet out from under it. As that Cog hit the ground he spun around and kicked the first Cog which caused it to spin in the air and fall to the ground. As that Cog hit the ground Ethan did a front flip and brought both his feet down on either of the Cogs in front of him, the Cogs vanishing in defeat.

"Talk about putting my foot down," Ethan chuckled.

Kira used the nearby wall to jump over the Cogs that were attacking her, using her Ptera Screech to propel herself further up and force them to the ground. Landing she ducked as one of the Cogs lunged at her, said Cog flying above her and hitting the trash cans. Grinning she turned to the other Cog struggling to stand and let loose another screech, knocking it away and into a wall before vanishing. The Cog that just hit the trash cans stood up, pushing the trash off it and charged once more, Kira grabbing a hold of it's wrist and flipping it onto the ground, punching it in the chest and defeating it.

"Well that was a work out," she huffed looking over at her boyfriend, "now to help Conner."

Conner used his super speed to avoid the Cogs that he was fighting, punching and kicking them away as he moved around them. Shoving one into the wall the red ranger kicked the second Cog away from him before tossing the first Cog into the third one attempting to attack him. The three Cogs got back up and prepared to attack as when they noticed a white saber in the ranger's hand.

"Let's do this Saba," the red ranger grinned.

"Ready when you are Conner," Saba replied happily.

The Cogs shuddered as Conner lept forward, gliding between the three of them and slashing each of the machine foot soldiers. The three Cogs he was fighting sparked and exploded as he skidded to a stop, Saba vanishing as Conner twirled him around. His teammates ran over to him as he rolled his shoulder and smiled at Kira who took a hold of his hand.

"So does anyone wanna tell me why there are Cogs attacking us?" Ethan asked looked around.

"No clue but something's up and we're going to find out," the red ranger muttered wrapping his arm around the yellow ranger.

"They said that General Venjix attacked the first time," Kira remarked frowning, "do you think that he was the one that attacked Trent?"

"Maybe let's get back to headquarters and see what we can find," Conner ordered, "I'll have to tell my parents that the Machine Empire is back somehow."

The other two nodded and the three ran off after grabbing ahold of Trent's stuff, heading back to Conner's car so that they could get to his parents' house quicker.

Tommy groaned as he sat down in his recliner, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose as Jason sat down on the couch. Kim and Kat took their respective places beside them as the multi colored ranger tried to wrap his mind around what was happening.

"You going to be okay?" Kim asked her husband, kissing the top of his head.

"Yeah...yeah just…" he sighed and put his glasses back on, "I don't want to believe the Machine Empire is back, but if they are and if they attacked Trent then I'm going to have to tell Conner and the others so they're on their guard."

"I'm sure once you told them that everything will be fine," Kat offered up a smile.

"She's right bro Conner, Kira, Ethan they're strong I'm sure that if the Machine Empire attacks they'll hold their own," Jason stated patting Kat's knee.

"And what about Trent?" Tommy challenged, "he was one of the Dino Thunder rangers, he should have been able to keep himself safe and he was hurt bad enough…"

Tommy clenched his fist and took a deep breath.

"He was hurt bad enough to sent to the emergency room."

Kim laid her hand on Tommy's shoulder and gave it a squeeze, Tommy placing his hand over her's and sighing.

"I've only ever seen one ranger damaged badly and that was Rocky just before…"

"Before we got our turbo powers," Kat recalled shaking her head.

"I'm just worried, okay," Tommy told them, "this isn't like Mondo or even Gasket, or any other enemy we've face this is...this is personal, if they Machine Empire is out there they're out for revenge."

Before the others could say anything Venjix and a large group of Cogs appeared inside the living room with the four rangers, all of them standing up at seeing their foe.

"How right you are Tommy," Venjix replied pointing at them.

"What are you doing here?" Jason demanded as they got into a fighting stance.

"I would have thought you'd know red rangers," Venjix chuckled, "King Mondo would like a very painful word with you."

"Mondo was destroyed," Kat informed them with a glare.

Venjix didn't reply, instead demanded the Cogs attack. The swarm of machine foot soldiers moved and the living room was soon filled with fighting as they outnumbered the rangers. The rangers fought back as hard as they could but the sheer amount of Cogs, and the presence of Venjix himself, was hard to fight back against and it wasn't long before Tommy spotted Jason, Kim, and Kat all get captured.

"NO!" he hollered, pushing away the Cogs that were holding him back, "give them back Venjix!"

"Don't worry Tommy you'll be joining him soon enough," the general assured him, more Cogs moving in to apprehend him.

Tommy grunted as he fought them off reaching over and pressing an app on his phone before the Cogs grabbed a hold of him. Walking over Venjix nailed him in the gut and knocked the air out of him, the multi colored ranger collapsing to the ground.

"You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that," Venjix admitted pulling him up by the front of his shirt, "but King Mondo and Prince Gasket want to finish you themselves."

"They're going to have a hard time with that," Tommy growled at him, "We've beaten them once and we'll do it again."

"With what team?" Venijx asked smugly, "the other Zeo rangers that we've already captured?"

Tommy struggled against the Cogs but soon vanished with the Cogs and Venjix, leaving behind a torn and tattered room. Laying on the coffee table Tommy's phone blinked a few times before a light blue beam appeared in the room and a red and gold robot inside it. Looking around Alpha tried to figure out where he was when he noticed the state of the room and a broken picture of the past rangers.

"Aye yi yi, what's going on here?" Alpha asked confused.

The phone blinked a few more times and a video message started to play.

" _Alpha…"_

"Tommy?" Alpha said in shock, "Tommy where are you?"

" _Alpha if you're hearing this then that means we've been captured and it's up to you and Conner to help us."_

"But I don't know what's going on," the robot stated.

" _I had Billy create this app in case anything like this were to happen, in the situation that we would ever be captured then all I had to do is start the app and it would teleport you to my phone, from there hopefully a ranger team will be ready to fight. I'm counting on you my old friend"_

"Oh Tommy…"

" _Goodbye for now Alpha I hope to see you soon, may the power protect you."_

The message finished and Alpha held his head.

"Oh I hope you're right Tommy."


	6. Chapter 5

The tires of Conner's car squealed to a halt, gravel crunching as the car slid across it and came to a stop. Conner climbed out of his car and shut the door behind him, leaving his girlfriend and best friend there as they tried to catch their breath and recompose themselves. They had of course ridden with Conner before and the red ranger had shown to have been quite skilled at racing his vehicle down the street, Kira had also noticed that this started to get a touch worse when he found out that Dr. O was his father, and they were wondering if they their red ranger was starting to take after the Turbo powers in his father.

"Ethan I want you don't in the basement reviewing security footage, see if you can find anything," Conner ordered as they finally gotten out of the car and followed him, "me and Kira are going to talk to my parents and see if there is anything we can learn about this Venjix."

"I'll see what I can do," Ethan promised as Conner opened the door.

Conner nodded and walked inside.

"I don't like this one bit but if someone is attacking us then…"

The words stopped in his throat as he looked in the living room, his teammates stopping next to him to see the damage that was done. Kira gasped, her eyes wide as looked around and Ethan seemed to be none the better. Walking in slowly the red ranger trembled as he observed the damage, kneeling down and picking up a broken picture frame of him, Kira, Tommy, and Kimberly.

"Something's not right here, Kim would have called if they were attacked," Kira whispered looking around.

"This looks recent," the blue ranger observed, kneeling down next to a broken tea cup.

He pressed his fingers against the wet spot on the carpet and frowned as he felt it.

"Still wet, not hot but wet," he informed them shaking his hand, "so this couldn't have been too long ago."

Conner frowned and was about say something when he heard a noise coming from the kitchen area. Holding his finger up to lips the three rangers snuck over to the kitchen and Conner quickly morphed into the white tiger ranger, the noise stopping at the sound. Stepping around the corner Conner pulled out Saba and got ready to attack when he saw the familiar robotic figure.

"A-Alpha?"

"Ayi yi yi, Tommy is that you?" Alpha asked seeing the white ranger.

"N-no," Conner sighed demorphing, "I'm Conner, the red dino thunder ranger, these are my teammates, my girlfriend Kira, and my best friend Ethan."

"But you were just the white tiger ranger," Alpha pointed out.

"Yeah it's a long story and one I'll be sure to catch you up on later," Conner promised rubbing the back of his neck, "but what I want to know why and how you're here?"

"I would like to know that too," Ethan chimed in, "last we knew Dr. O told us you were in…"

The blue ranger scratched his nose as he looked at the robotic ranger companion, unsure how to proceed.

"I'm well aware that I was put into storage," Alpha assured them looking down, "as for what and why I'm here I was summoned by Tommy, him and some of the rangers are in trouble."

Conner's eyes widened as he clenched his fist with this news. He knew that there was a chance that his parents, his ranger parents that is, would have been captured but to add in his ranger aunts and uncles enraged him. He reached for his waist and placed his fingers on the white tiger coin in his morpher, calling out to the falcon and crane.

'No answer,' he thought, 'of course there wouldn't be.'

"So we know that they were attacked," Kira whispered, "and they were attacked here in their own home…"

"Which means that we can actually figure out who attacked," Conner muttered, "dad has cameras set up all around the house."

"Dad?" Alpha asked confused.

Conner looked down and gave a dry laugh.

"That's right you wouldn't know."

Looking at Alpha the red dino thunder ranger grinned at him, though he found that process hard in the face of the situation they were in.

"I told you my name was Conner McKnight, that wasn't a lie, but my other name, my birth name, is Conner Oliver."

"Ayi yi yi did you say Oliver, as in the same family as Tommy?" Alpha asked in shock.

"Yeah we kind of just found out a year ago that Dr. O is Conner's father," Ethan filled in, "and Kimberly is his mother."

"Oh I'm so happy that they were able to get back together and have a child!" Alpha stated gleefully, "but wait if you go by Conner McKnight…"

"It's not as happy a story as you'd like to think it is, though the ending is a good one," the red ranger sighed, "but enough of this for now, let's get down to our base and check the security footage."

The group of four made their way down the steps and Alpha 5 was greeted with the sight of a new ranger base. Ethan quickly went to work, sitting down in front of the computer and bringing up the video feed from inside the house. It took them a moment but the three watched as Tommy and the others walked inside, the four sitting down and starting talking when General Venjix showed up with a legion of Cogs.

"So Venjix took them," Ethan muttered leaning back in the seat.

"Ayi yi yi yi yi not General Venjix!"

"But how Venjix and the other Generals were destroyed?" Kira frowned.

"Maybe it's Venjix from the past," the red ranger offered unsure, "I mean Messagog brought Goldar to our time last year."

"Yeah but that was Messagog's handy work, and he's gone now," the blue ranger reminded them, "So unless someone got their hands on his base…"

"It might be possible that General Venjix was repaired," Alpha offered up, "he was the best in the Machine Empire after all, at least outside the royal family."

"But how, who would have repaired him?" Ethan questioned.

"No clue, but I'm sure if we keep going down this path then we're going to find out," Conner remarked, "but we need to figure out what we're going to do."

"What do you mean?" Alpha asked confused.

"Our Dino powers are gone," the yellow ranger filled in, "when we fought against Messagog we had to give it everything we had."

"Which resulted in the lose of our powers," Ethan groaned, "we could really use those powers now."

"We're down two rangers, one of them falling into the category of the legendary rangers which we are down four of, maybe more," the red ranger frowned, "we need a plan of attack and right now I'm not sure what we're going to do."

Ethan and Kira frowned as well as Alpha processed everything. Conner stood there and looked at the image frozen on the screen, his mother, aunt, and uncle being taken by a beam of light while his father glared at Venjix. The gears in his mind started to turn as he got and idea watching the general of the enemies to the Zeo rangers and his gaze flicked over to the stairs.

"Maybe we can get some of the other rangers and…"

"I have an idea," Conner stopped his friend, "one that you guys, and even some of the other rangers won't like, but an idea nonetheless."

"Conner…" Kira said cautiously, "what are you planning."

"...Stay here," the red ranger ordered heading up the stairs.

Conner ran up the stairs and to his father's office, looking around for a second before walking over to a picture on the wall of the original ranger team. He smirked as he looked at them, quickly spotting his parents hugging each other, before reaching up and pulling the picture down. Hidden from sight behind the picture was a safe, the red ranger quickly putting in the code and leaning forward so that it could scan his eye.

"Thank Zordon that dad put my DNA in for this," he mumbled as he opened up the safe, taking the contents out from it and closing it again.

Kira, Ethan, and Alpha waited for the red ranger to return all three of them no sure what his plan was. When Conner entered the headquarters again carrying a case Ethan frowned as he looked at him.

"So what are you planning on suing the Machine Empire, cause they might create a lawyer bot to stop that."

"No we're not suing them, though keep that in mind for a later date," Conner replied setting the case down, "no I thought that it was only fitting that if we're going to be fighting the Machine Empire…"

He opened the case and spun it around, showing the group what was inside it.

"That we use the powers they fear the most."

A/N: I'm sorry for the short chapter but I keep finding myself in a hard situation to write a whole lot now, what with working two jobs at the moment. But I'll do my best to keep my stories updated as quickly as I can. Until next time R&R and may the power protect you.

TriassicDragonRanger


	7. Chapter 6

Tommy groaned as he rolled over, slowly waking up after being knocked out by Venjix. He had no idea where he was but from first glance he knew he wasn't in his room, nor was he in his room with his wife, he was laying on a concrete floor in the middle of a cage that had a glass wall.

"W-where am I?" he groaned sitting up, feeling a flash of pain course through him, "Damn it…"

"Tommy!"

This got him on his feet in a matter of seconds, the ranger legend pushing himself over to the glass of his cage only to see more cages like the one he was in. Six of them occupied by a former Zeo ranger and one occupied by the original pink ranger, the same ranger that called out to him when she saw that he was moving again.

"Kim? KIM!" He called back, striking the glass with his fist as he tried to get out.

"Tommy are you okay?" Kim asked.

"I'm fine what about you?"

"I'm unharmed," she replied rubbing the back of her head, "for the most part, have a nasty bump on the back of my head."

Tommy sighed and looked at the other cages, they were all facing each other in a hexagon shape, with the eighth wall being cement with a large metal door centered inside. The other cells, as he saw before, had the other Zeo rangers, all of whom were unconscious on the ground for the time being.

"I was the first one up," the pink ranger explained as she watched him look around, "I've checked my cell as well, no way out from what I can see."

"Then we'll just have to believe that Conner and the others will save us,"he sighed.

"That's a nice thought," Jason groaned as he stood up, "but unless little rex can find out where we are and figure out a way to beat Venjix then we're stuck until we can come up with a plan to beat the shit out of him."

"Jase you're awake!" Tommy grinned looking over at him.

"Yep, and can I just say damn did Venjix hit hard."

"We're here too if anyone cares," Adam moaned standing up.

This made Tommy chuckle softly as he looked over at his friend.

"I'm happy to see you're alright too Adam," he turned his attention to Rocky and Tanya, "both of you as well."

"Well now that we have that out of the way, how do we get out," Tanya asked looking around, "Doesn't look like this cage is going to give out with just a few punches."

"No it's not going to be that easy," the red Zeo ranger agreed looking around his cell.

"So does someone want to get us caught up here?" Rocky asked leaning against the glass wall, "cause all I remember is getting attacked by someone named…"

"Venjix," Jason filled in, "General Venjix of the Machine Empire."

"Okay wait I'm confused, we never fought anyone named Venjix," Adam recalled frowning.

"You didn't, but me and Tommy did," the original red ranger remarked confusing the others, "back in 2001 Tommy recruited me and some other red rangers to go on a mission to the moon, a mission to stop Serpentera."

"Whoa hold on why wasn't I invited?" Rocky asked looking at Tommy.

"You were in the middle of moving Rocky," Tommy apologized, "anyway all you need to know is that there were some left over members of the Machine Empire, generals who wanted to get revenge for the defeat of Mondo, and they failed."

"Incorrect Tommy," Mondo stated as the doors opened, the ing walking in, "they were just a bit off schedule."

"Mondo," Tommy growled.

"That's King Mondo to you," he rebuked walking over to the red ranger, "after all these years Tommy you still have that defience in your eyes."

"It helps when I'm constantly facing things like you."

Mondo turned and walked over to Kim's cell, looking the brown haired woman over.

"I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you."

"Kimberly Oliver," she growled, "wife of Tommy Oliver…"

"Well then I'll have the pleasure of not only destroying him but his wi…"

"And the original pink ranger," she cut him off, "and if you think we're going down without a fight then you're a bigger idiot the Rita and Zedd combined."

Mondo scoffed and turned away from Kimberly, walking around the room to look at each of the rangers.

"All you rangers are the same aren't you, so full of fire," he laughed, "it's sickening really."

"You realize we beat you once Mondo," Jason reminded the king, "we'll do it again."

"You're not a very big threat alone," Adam smirked.

"Ah but he's not alone."

The group looked towards the door, their eyes widening as they watched Prince Gasket, Queen Machina, and Princess Archerina walk in.

"Gasket?"

"A pleasure Tommy it's been awhile," Gasket chuckled walking over to him.

"Not long enough," Tommy replied glaring at him, "so you're all back huh? What no Sprocket?"

Machina stormed over and struck the glass to Tommy's cell.

"Don't you talk about our youngest son," she barked making him smirk.

"I'll take that as a no."

"We were unable to find the parts to fix him," Mondo stated pulling his wife away, "but we have more than enough power to destroy you."

"You didn't destroy us last time," Adam reminded them, "what makes it different this time?"

"This time green ranger you don't have your powers, making you that much easier to destroy."

Mondo turned to face the green Zeo ranger and walked over to him.

"And your precious Zordon isn't here to help you either."

"YOU'RE WRONG!"

Mondo and the others of the Royal Family turned to face a red face Kimberly, the original pink ranger glaring daggers at the king.

"Zordon's not gone," she growled.

"You must be an idiot then," Archerina laughed, "Zordon is long gone, dead."

"Zordon might not be here physically," Tommy defended, "but his spirit lives on inside us."

"That's right," Jason agreed glaring at them, "Zordon lives on inside of us, and inside all the other rangers that fight evil like you."

"A typical ranger answer," Venjix scoffed walking in.

"Ah General Venjix so nice of you to join us," Machina remarked, "to what do we owe the pleasure."

"Yes why are you here instead of overseeing preparations?" Mondo questioned turning to his general.

"The project is almost finished your highness," Venjix replied with a bow.

"Good, and once the project is done…"

Mondo turned to Tommy and the legendary ranger could have sworn he saw a grin on his robotic features.

"The universe will witness the beginning of the end for the power rangers."

Ethan and Kira looked down at the briefcase, their eyes locked onto the zeonizers.

"You...you want us to use the Zeo Rangers' powers?" the blue dino thunder ranger asked in shock.

"We don't have our dino powers and this is the next best thing," Conner remarked, "we need all the power we can and the Zeo Crystal is constantly growing in power."

"But how are we going to do that, I mean can we even use these?" Kira asked picking up one and looking it over.

"They should, they're not genetically locked like ours."

Ethan nodded, picking up one of the Zeonizers himself, and looked it over closely.

"Even if they would work for us what are we going to do, it's not like we know where the Machine Empire is holding them…"

"The Machine Empire's back?"

The three former rangers spun around to see a very perturbed looking Hayley standing at the foot of the stairs, her fist tightened around the strap of her purse.

"Hayley!" Kira said running over and hugging her.

"It's nice to see you too Kira but I need a run down on what's going on right now," Hayley commented hugging her back, "What's this about the Machine Empire holding someone?"

"Not just someone Dr. O, Kim…" Ethan muttered looking down to the ground.

"And most likely the rest of the Zeo rangers," Conner filled in for the blue ranger.

Hayley felt her heart start to race at this information and she pushed pass the rangers and sat in front of the computer. She furiously typed away as camera feed zipped across the screen.

"Have you contacted any of the other rangers?" she asked not looking at them.

"No we didn't know where the Machine Empire was hiding yet," Conner muttered.

Hayley glared at the red ranger making him stumble back.

"And you were going to go at it without backup weren't you?"

"Well not exactly but…"

"You're just like your father Conner Oliver," Hayley huffed turning back around, "I would at least have a team or two on standby, but right now let's focus on finding the jackasses that took the Zeo rangers."

Conner rubbed the back of his head as Kira walked over to him.

"Going back to the Zeo powers, I'm still not convinced Conner and even if we can use them it's not like they'll be at full power."

"Wait what do you mean?" Ethan asked confused.

Conner sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"My dad, uncle Jason, and aunt Kat once told us that while the Zeo powers are strong but they work best as a set."

"For the Zeo powers to be at their best we'd need five rangers at least," Kira filled in.

This made the blue dino ranger groan and pinch the bridge of his nose.

"So we're back to square one, cause it's not like we have other rangers that can step up to use the Zeo powers."

"They have their own powers, and I'm not sure that it's a good idea to cross powers when they still have theirs," Conner replied looking at the Zeo morphers.

He walked over and picked up his father's morpher, looking it over. He felt the weight of it in his hand and could feel the power coming from it. The morpher on his wrist, and the one on his waist, seemed to be reaching out to it and he looked over at his girlfriend who was holding the pink morpher.

"We don't have a choice at the moment though we need to find some help and we need all the power we can get," He said looking at Ethan, "and once we find out where they are we'll need to move fast."

"Well that might be harder than you think," Hayley remarked catching their attention, "remember what I said about back up, you're going to need at least the space rangers."

"What do you mean?" Conner asked walking over to her.

Hayley brought up what she was looking at so that the rangers could see it.

"The place where Tommy and the others are being held is on the moon, and it's in a place that Tommy, Jason, TJ, and Andros know well."

She looked over at Conner, the young red ranger staring at the computer.

"So what are you going to do?"

"...We need to be at full power, meaning we need some help using the Zeo powers," Conner remarked.

"But who are we going to get to help us?" Kira asked frowning, "we don't have a lot of people who know we're rangers."

"No we don't," Conner agreed walking back over to the morphers, "but we don't need a whole lot of people to know that only two…"

A thought came to mind and he grinned.

"And I know who might be able to help us."


	8. Chapter 7

"This is a bad idea," Ethan muttered as he set his cup down, the three rangers having left the lair after Conner made a call, "I mean you told them what we're doing right?"

"I explained that...that there was a situation," the red ranger replied hesitantly, "I didn't tell them what they would be doing if they helped."

"Conner!" Kira hissed glaring at him.

"Dude bad idea, really bad idea," the blue ranger groaned, "they need to know what they're getting into, if they don't know…"

"If they don't know they can get hurt and if they get hurt…"

"Then it's on me I know," Conner growled, "But Ethan's right we don't have a lot of people who know…"

Conner stopped as a group of kids ran pass laughing, the red dino thunder ranger sighing and leaning in.

"We don't have a lot of people who can help us."

"We have other ranger teams to help us Conner we're not alone," Kira reminded him, patting his hand.

Conner nodded, understanding what his teammates were trying to do, but he knew that they could only bring - at least - the space rangers. He recalled his dreams of the Zeo rangers fighting alongside his parents and the other past Zeo rangers and deep down he knew, just knew, that it was him and his friends. Kira could see her boyfriend mentally battling something and her instincts kicked in.

"Conner what are you not telling us?" She whispered, interlacing their fingers, "you know you don't have to keep secrets from us."

"Bro is everything okay?" Ethan questioned.

Conner rubbed the back of his neck. He was happy that he had the team he did, glad that he was able to form relationships with them like his father did his teams, but he wasn't sure they'd understand.

"Conner," The yellow ranger said tilting his chin to look at her, "does this have anything to do with the dreams you've been having recently?"

"Wait what dreams?" Ethan asked confused.

Conner frowned.

"A while back, before I even had obtained the powers of the white tiger, I had a dream, a vision actually, about the white ranger."

The memories of those events played through his mind as he took a sip from his coffee.

"He's the reason I went on my mission and once I had obtained the power to defeat Goldar I had thought that these vision would stop but that night I had a vision of the Zeo rangers fighting the Machine Empire, and the ones who actually held that power were fighting in the background."

"Oh wow okay that's heavy," Ethan muttered, "so you're saying that we're the Zeo rangers in this vision of your's?"

"It's a safe bet," Conner nodded, "and we need all five Zeo ranger powers."

"So that's why you called…"

"Hey guys!"

A voice cut Kira off and the three turned to see the two they had been waiting for walking towards them.

"Sorry we took so long," Cassidy apologized sitting down, "I was having a hard time finding the shirt I wanted."

"I told her that it wasn't necessary but...girls," Devion shrugged, "So what's up you sounded kinda urgent on the phone."

The three rangers looked at each other, yellow and blue motioning to red to explain himself.

"It's...complicated and you might not want to help after you hear what's going on," he said frowning, "but please hear us, hear me, out."

"Of course dude," Devin promised.

"You three have protected this city from Messagog's attack," Cassidy added with a soft smile, "asking us to hear you out seems small compared to what we should do to pay you back."

"We never became power rangers to be thanked or for the recognition," Kira explained smiling back.

"No we became power rangers because we were in detention and found prehistoric gems," Ethan teased, Cassidy and Devin blinking in confusion, "no seriously that's how we became rangers."

"Wow a lot less epic then I pictured it?" Devin admitted leaning back in his chair.

"What were you expecting some giant floating head to have summoned us and give us our powers?" Kira chuckled shaking her head.

"Um actually...yeah," Cassidy blinked.

"We're way off topic," Conner growled, "look let me give you a rundown of what's going on."

Devin and Cassidy nodded, Conner taking a deep breath before going into what has happened in the last few hours. As he told the story the two could hardly believe what they were hearing. The very idea that their teacher was a ranger had put them in awe before but to hear that Dr. Oliver, not to mention his wife, were rangers from the very beginning seemed to put them in a state of shock.

"That's heavy dude," Devin muttered, "so these robot dudes…"

"The Machine Empire," Ethan cut him off.

"Right so they fought Dr. O when he was about our age?"

"Yeah and now they their back they want revenge on the ones who stopped them and to complete what they started," Conner nodded, "and that's where the five of us come in."

"Okay so what are we going to do?" Cassidy asked suddenly feeling a chill run down her spine.

"I've been having visions," the red ranger frowned, "they started back when we were the active team and at first they were about the white ranger…"

"Wait that white ranger, the one who showed up with black and gold shield, that was you?" Devin asked in shock.

"Off topic but yes, anyway after that I had a dream about the Zeo rangers fighting the Machine Empire, but then they stopped for a while."

Conner looked up at the sky as if trying to process what he was saying. He knew what he was saying was true and that he had these visions but even to his own ears they sounded a bit like nonsense.

"I have just started having these visions again, and now that my parents and my aunt and uncle are taken I don't think that them coming back is a coincidence. The reason I called you here is because I wanted to asked the two of you if you'd be willing to help us," Conner finally said looking back at them, "it won't be easy but we need all the help we can get."

"We would...we would like for you to help us," Kira explained, "which would mean suiting up and fighting alongside us."

This request stunned the two civilians, Devin leaning back in his seat and Cassidy blinking in confusion.

"Y-you want us...to be rangers?" Cassidy whispered in disbelief.

"Temporarily," Conner replied, "once we save the Zeo rangers we'll return the power."

"So you want us," Devin stated pointing at the two of them, "to suit up as rangers and help you fight?"

"Only if you want to, we can't force you to do this but it would be helpful."

"I don't know man are you sure we're the right people for the job?" Devin asked hesitantly.

"I don't know," the red ranger admitted, "what I do know is that we need help accessing the full power of the Zeo rangers and you two are the only ones we can trust."

"What do you mean, I'm sure there are other people you can trust," Cassidy remarked frowning.

"Cassidy you two had the chance to tell the world that we were rangers after we defeated Messagog but you destroyed the tape," Kira reminded the other girl.

"You could've completely ruined our lives by doing that but because of you we can be normal people," Ethan offered grinning at them, understanding why Conner picked them, "or as normal as inactive rangers can be."

"You don't have to help us if you don't want to," Conner assured them, "it's enough just hearing us out."

The two civilians looked at each other, seemingly having a quiet conversation with one another on what they should do. This went on for a few minutes before the two nodded and turned back to the others.

"Okay then what do we need to do?" Cassidy asked smiling.

Conner grinned, glad that things were working out, before standing up and motioning towards the Cyberspace Cafe. The five young adults went inside and Cassidy and Devin spotted Hayley standing behind the counter, the older woman looking at them and giving them a nod. If Cassidy saw correctly she even mouthed a thank you to them.

"In here," Conner motioned to the back of the cafe.

As the five entered Conner closed the door behind them and walked over to a table with a metal briefcase sitting on it. He quickly opened it up and Cassidy and Devin were greeted with their first sight of the Zeonizers.

"We would have taken you to our base but time is short," Conner explained handing the morphers out, "in order Kira will be Zeo I pink, Cassidy Zeo II yellow, Ethan Zeo III blue, Devin will be Zeo IV green, and I'll be Zeo V red."

"Wait why am I pink?" Kira asked frowning.

"Does it matter?" Conner responded looking at her, "it'll be temporary after all."

"Just weird," she muttered putting it on, "but it does make me feel a closer bond to Kat and Kim being able to wear pink."

"So how does this work?" Devin asked putting his on.

"Yeah don't you always have like a, I don't know, like a catchphrase?" Cassidy added.

"You're not wrong?" Ethan shrugged.

"For us all we had to do was say Dino Thunder, Power Up and then pressed a button with the Zeonizers…"

The building rumbled and the sound of explosions could be hear from outside, all five of them turning towards the front of the store and running outside. Just like the three rangers predicted there was a squadron of Cogs marching down the road.

"Looks like you'll have to learn on the fly," Conner muttered, his eyes narrowing.

"W-wait we don't really know how to fight," Cassidy remembered as she looked towards the robots.

"It'll come naturally when you morph," Kira assured her, patting her on the shoulder.

"But we don't know how to do that yet," Devin reminded them suddenly feeling unsure about this.

"Just watch us," Conner said standing up straight, "ready?"

"Ready!" Ethan and Kira replied.

"It's Morphin' Time, Power Rangers! Zeo!"

A/N:

I realize that the actual morph call was just 'It's Morphin' Time' but I wanted to hark back to the first couple of episodes where they did say the last half. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the next chapter, and I promise, will have more fighting in it. Until then may the power protect you all.


	9. Chapter 8

The reaction of the Cogs to the appearance of the Zeo Rangers was instance, a full out charge against them to take the rangers out.

"You know what to do rangers!" Conner stated charging forward as well.

Kira and Ethan followed and the three Zeo rangers started to hold off the Cogs. It felt different to them, using the Zeo powers, fighting Cogs instead of Tyrannodrones, but overall it was so familiar to them. Sparks flew from the foot soldiers from where the rangers hit them and Cassidy and Devin watched in awe as their friends fought.

"Oh wow," Cassidy whispered, "we're going to be doing that?"

Devin nodded numbly and flinched as one of the Cogs landed on the ground next to them.

"Maybe we should move somewhere safe," she offered looking at her boyfriend.

A scream caught their attention and they spun around to see a scared girl running from a pursuing Cog. Devin, without thinking, rushed forward and knocked the Cog away, Cassidy following after him and stopping at the girl.

"Did that thing hurt you?" Cassidy asked kneeling down to look at her.

"No but thank you for saving me," the girl replied hugging her.

Cassidy hurried the girl away, watching as the girl's mother found her. She looked back towards the Cogs and was shocked to see Devin still fighting, her once kinda scrawny boyfriend managing to do fairly well.

"Piss off!" Devin barked as he kicked one of the Cogs down.

"Devin!" Cassidy called out running over to him, "are you hurt?"

"I… I'm surprisingly fine actually," Devin remarked, "I'm not going to lie that felt pretty good."

"It looked like it," she observed looking him over.

More Cogs showed and and the two took a couple steps to back away from them.

"And it looks like I'm going to get to try as well."

Without hesitation the Cogs attacked the two, this time Cassidy, while giving a bit of a yelp, joining the fray. Compared to the rangers though Cassidy and Devin, while managing to hold their own, were struggling to fight the mechanical foot soldiers. Cassidy herself wasn't much of a fighter and it showed as the Cogs pushed her around and while Devin was a touch better he still found the Cogs to be stronger than him. A quick strike to his gut and he was on his knee, swinging his arms up to block an incoming attack. Cassidy groaned as her feet were swept out from under her, Cassidy's back hitting the ground in front of the Cog. Looking up she saw that the Cog was about to attack and she yelped again, rolling out of the way just in time to avoid the attack.

"Whoa Cassidy!" Devin said helping her up.

"Oh wow my head is ringing," she groaned shaking her head, "This isn't going to be as easy as I thought."

"You're telling me…"

Devin looked over at the three rangers and same how easily fighting came to them and then looked down at the morpher on his wrist.

"But maybe it can be easier."

"What do you...OH!" Cassidy remarked as realization dawned on her.

"Let's do what they did," Devin suggested holding up his right wrist.

"I'm right behind you."

"It's Morphin Time!"

"ZEO RANGER II, YELLOW!"

"ZEO RANGER IV, GREEN!"

The Cogs they were fighting took a step back at the sight of the two rangers, both of them looking at their new form in awe.

"Oh man I feel powerful!" Devin declared clenching his fist.

"So this is what it feels like to be a ranger," Cassidy remarked looking over her new suit.

"Guys focus!" they heard Conner call out to them.

Slashing a Cog with energy around his hand Conner spun around and looked at them, the red ranger emitting a presence of leadership.

"We need to take these Cogs out before anyone gets seriously hurt," he reminded them, Cassidy and Devin nodding.

The team moved fast, Cassidy quickly teaming up with Kira while Devin went over to Ethan. Zeo I leaped through the air, performing a backflip while doing so, and landed next to Zeo II, holding out her hand to her.

"Care to dance?"

"Wait what?" Cassidy asked confused.

"Just take a hold of my hand and don't let go okay," the pink ranger explained.

Cassidy, while still confused, took a hold of Kira's hand and found herself being lifted up and spun around. She saw the Cogs around them and started to kick out towards them, each hit landing on it's its intended target.

"Whoa that was weird," three yellow ranger remarked as she landed, "it's it always like this?"

"More or less," the pink ranger shrugged.

"And my body it feels like it's moving on its own."

"Yeah that happens when you morph your instincts kick into overdrive," Kira explained, "now then let's get back to business!"

"Right," Cassidy replied excitedly.

The two turned around and did a series of backflips through the group of Cogs, moving with enough speed that the Cogs managed to hit each other instead of them.

"Zeo Power Pod Sword!" Kira called out, pulling out the weapon.

"Zeo Laser Pistol!" Cassidy followed drawing the gun.

Cassidy fired the pistol as Kira ran back towards the Cogs, slashing them as she passed by. With the Cogs either being slashed at of shot they were swiftly defeated and Cassidy put up her weapon before running over to Kira and high fiving her.

"That was awesome Kira!"

"Thanks now come on there's still more Cogs to take care of," Kira remarked as the two ran off.

Devin rolled across the back of one of the Cogs as it attacked him, kicking another one and knocking it over to Ethan, the blue ranger clotheslining it. Interlocking his fingers Ethan kneeled down and Devin ran over to him, stepping into his hand and getting launched into the air, kicking a jumping Cog and landing. Spinning around Devin pulled out his Power Pod Sword and blocked the next foot soldier.

"Not today robot."

Zeo IV pushed him away and the lashed out, striking the Cog and defeating it as Ethan jumped over him and fired with his Laser Pistol.

"Alright!" Devin cheered, not seeing the other Cogs behind him.

"Huh? Watch out!" Ethan called out, directing his weapon at them.

Devin jumped out of the way and Ethan fired at them, knocking them down and defeating them.

"Oops uh...sorry dude," Devin apologized sheepishly.

"Yeah you're going to want to watch out for things like that," Ethan explained, "hey but other then that you're doing pretty good for your first time."

"Thanks man," Devin grinned looking over at Conner, Kira and Cassidy joining the two of them, "Should we go help him now?"

Kira and Ethan looked at each other and then to the rookies, Ethan shaking his head.

"Nah let him blow off some steam."

Conner leaned away from one of the Cogs, avoiding their attack and retaliating with a quick strike to the shoulder. Stumbling backwards the Cog was caught by its comrades and pushed back up to stand in front of them. Conner's eyes narrowed as he realized they were, amusingly enough, stacked like bowling pins.

"Bad idea bolt heads," he grinned clenching his fist, "Zeo Power Punch!"

His fist glowing Conner struck the Cog in the front of the group and knocked him back into the others, a bowling pin effect toppling them all to the ground. Spinning around the red ranger spotted some more Cogs and held out his hand, a flash of red energy forming into a sword.

"Zeo Power Sword!"

"Whoa!" Devin remarked seeing the sword.

"Now that's cool," Cassidy clapped her hands together watching the red ranger.

"It gets even better," Ethan promised them, giving the two a thumbs up.

"Huh?"

"Shall we?" the blue ranger asked pink.

"Let's do it," Kira agreed.

"Zeo Power Disc!"

"Zeo Power Axes!"

The weapons appeared in their hands, Zeo II and IV looking at each other and nodding.

"Zeo Power Double Club!"

"Zeo Power Hatchets!"

The four joined their leader to fight off the rest of the Cogs attacking Reefside all the while up on the moon Mondo watching in anger.

"What is this, the Zeo rangers are all here imprisoned," Machina stomped her foot on the ground as she watched their Cogs get destroyed.

"I'm not sure but a new set of Zeo rangers would only cause us trouble until we can fully equipt our army," Mondo huffed hearing a chuckle behind him.

"You wouldn't be able to take the Earth even if you got rid of us Mondo," Tommy remarked leaning against the glass of his cage, "the Earth is filled with more rangers then you could ever hope to stand up against."

"So full of confidence Tommy but I'll see that smirk wiped from your face if it's the last thing I do," Mondo promised walking over to him, "mark my words."

"You might want to watch out Mondo," Jason warned looking at the king, "the guy in red has as bad of an anger problem as both me and Tommy, he's not going to take us being taken lightly."

"Empty word," the king scoffed turning away, "those Zeo fakes are nothing more then wannabes, thinking they can save the world simply because they look like rangers, but one monster will show them they're wrong."

"My king are you sure that is wise, wasting resources to create a monster when we could use it to build our army?" Machina asked hesitantly.

"Father, mother is right allow me to head down there and finish these rangers off it shouldn't take me but a moment," Gasket offered.

"No we'll create a monster to show the rangers just how weak they are," Mondo said with some finality, "I want them to suffer for thinking they could beat me."

"Allow me then I haven't created a monster before but I'm willing to try," Archerina bowed, walking over to a nearby computer, "I believe I saw an interesting program on this…"

A few tap of the keys and the screen showed a figure who looked to have a knight like appearance and a cannon for a chest. A few more swipes and a hole opened up in the middle of the room, steam billowing out with the sound of mechanical whirling. From the steam the figure came up and his red eyes flashed as he activated.

"Alright Cannon Knight is ready to knock some castles down!" he bellowed swinging his arm in a circle.

"Ah Cannon Knight," Mondo stated stepping forward, "as you can see we have a situation, head to the Earth and destroy those fake rangers to prove a point."

"You got it your highness leave it to me," Cannon Knight said vanishing with the sound of cannonballs hitting the ground.

"Those rangers will be the first to show the world that I'm not messing around," Mondo informed the captive rangers, "now watch Tommy as they're destroyed by the restored Machine Empire."

Tommy clenched his fist as Mondo turned his back to him before looking over at Jason who nodded to him.

"Come on Conner prove to these idiots what you can do," he whispered watching the Zeo rangers.


	10. Chapter 9

"Dude that was awesome!" Devin cheered.

"I have to admit you two were great out there," Ethan praised patting the green ranger's shoulder.

The rangers had just finished off the last of the Cogs and regrouped, Cassidy and Devin excited about their first bout as rangers, their weapons vanished in a flash of light. Conner had to admit he was proud of them, the two had done well for their first time. Flashes of memories played in his head, memories of their first time as rangers, and he shook his head to focus. He looked over at Ethan and noted that his brother in arms looked comfortable in his borrowed suit, but a look over at Kira saw her looking at her hands, or more to the point she was looking at the pink beneath the white gloves.

"You okay Kira?"

The pink ranger looked up at the red and shook her head quickly.

"Yeah I'm okay, just not use to this color yet," she admitted.

"Oh um we could change if it would make you feel better," Cassidy offered getting ready to power down.

"No no I promise I'm fine, it's just a new power and a new color so it will take a moment to adjust," the pink ranger explained to her fellow female ranger.

"So what do we do now?" Zeo IV asked rubbing the back of his head.

"Now you puny ranger will fall before the might of the machine empire!"

The team turned around to see a knight styled monster standing not that far from them, an explosion from his chest sending a cannonball in their direction. With their experience Zeo I, III, and V were able to evade the attack, but Zeo II and IV were hit, sending the two sprawling onto the ground.

"Okay that one hurt a little bit," Devin groaned as they pushed themselves up.

"Um guys I'm not sure if I'm actually ready for this part of being a ranger," Cassidy muttered taking a step back at the sight of the monster.

Kira could hear the faint sound of fear in Cassidy's voice, and she couldn't blame her fellow female ranger. Fighting a monster for your first time was a bit nerve wracking but she also knew that they were going to be be fighting alongside them.

"Cass listen to me," The pink ranger said grasping her shoulders, "everything is going to be okay we got this."

"Fighting those Cogs was one thing Kira, they're weak," Cassidy remarked shaking her head, "I'm not sure if I can handle a monster."

Kira gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Cassidy you'll be fine, we've all felt the same when we first started."

"We're not going to let you go at it alone Cass," Conner promised, "you stick with Kira, Devin you're with me this time."

"You got it!" Devin replied, giving him a thumbs up.

The red ranger looked back at the yellow ranger and gave her a nod.

"You got this Cassidy just stick close by okay?"

"R-right," she nodded in reply.

"Are you done talking," Cannon Knight demanded pointing at them, "seriously a monster appears to destroy you and you start up a conversation how is it that your planet hasn't been conquered yet?"

"You know he's got a point," Ethan muttered rubbing neck.

"Alright rangers let's take this bot down."

The rangers rushed forward, Devin and Conner grabbing a hold of his arms while the girls jumped over them and kicked Cannon Knight in the back. Ethan charged up the middle with his fist glowing blue calling out.

"ZEO POWER PUNCH!"

The attack hit and Conner and Devin let their opponent go, watching Cannon Knight knock over some trash can. Pushing them off of him Cannon Knight stood up, orange energy forming at the mouth of his weapon.

"Cannon Fire!" he called out, firing the energy at the rangers.

"Kira!"

Kira summoned her Power Disc and stepped in front of them, blocking the attack and forcing it to the ground. Cannon Knight was upon them in seconds and attacking, Conner and Devin stepping up and blocking the attack before it could hit the pink ranger. With their blades crossed to hold their enemy at bay the two pushed back and forced him back a few feet. The two then locked their arms and allowed Ethan and Cassidy to propel themselves off of them, Ethan slashing Cannon Knight and Cassidy striking him with her clubs.

Cannon Knight managed to remain standing up from these attacks and held his chest in pain.

"Impossible how could you rangers hurt me?" He growled straightening up.

"You tell Mondo to release the rangers he's captured or else," Conner demanded, pointing his sword at the knight.

"You don't frighten me fake rangers," Cannon Knight huffed, "King Mondo has his prize and has allowed me the honor of beating you."

Flinging out his arms Cannon Knight fired off another attack, this one hitting before Kira could block it. With the rangers on the ground Conner groaned and rolled over, noticing Cannon Knight walking towards them.

"Now then to finish my mission."

Tommy watched the screen that Mondo and the others of the Royal family were watching the fight on. He had yet to find a way out of the cell he was stuck in, and from the looks of it the others were having much luck either, so he resolved to watch the rangers fight Cannon Knight. He was trying, at the moment, to figure out who it was that was wearing pink and green, figuring that Conner was Zeo V, Kira Zeo II, and Ethan Zeo III. He had an idea of who the other two might be but he didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet.

"Watch Tommy as these power posers fail to protect your precious Earth," Mondo gloated watching the rangers fight Cannon Knight, "and it's such a pleasure to watch them fail in your outfits."

"Ah yes, the fall of the rangers at the hands of some pathetic fakes," Machina laughed, Archerina and Gasket almost grinning at them.

Tommy however simply chuckled and shook his head, Jason grinning as he leaned against the back wall of his cell.

"You really think that don't you Mondo?" Jason asked the Machine King.

Mondo spun around and walked over to Jason's cell, the original red ranger pushing himself off the wall and walking forward to stare him in the face.

"You are just as annoying as Tommy is Jason," he remarked, hitting the glass of the cell.

"They won't lose Mondo," Tommy spoke up, "the power rangers will never lose to someone like you."

Mondo growled and stormed over to the red ranger.

"You are nothing more than a prisoner right now, awaiting his execution, what makes you think that these so-called rangers could ever save you?"

Tommy slammed his fist into the glass as he leaned forward.

"There are other teams outside of them Mondo, if they fail then the others will stop you, but I have a pretty good feeling that it won't come to that."

"Such boastfulness Tommy," Gasket remarked walking over, "why such pride in these fakes who wear your outfits?"

Tommy grinned and looked at Gasket and then to Mondo.

"Because my son can beat you," he replied.

If robots could show emotions then Tommy was sure that Mondo and Gasket would have expressions of shock at this information, remaining quiet and allowing Tommy to continue.

"That red ranger, I trained him to be the ranger he is today, the be the leader he is, my son and his team will take you out once and for all and unlike this time you won't come back."

"We shall see about that," Gasket remarked indignantly, "Father allow me to go and finish off these rangers."

"...No Gasket you shall remain here with us," Mondo ordered walking away from Tommy, "if they manage to defeat Cannon Knight, which they won't, then you'll have your chance to defeat Tommy's son in combat in the same way these rangers will be destroyed."

As the royal family left the room Kat leaned against the glass of her cell, looking towards Tommy.

"You sound pretty confident that they'll win," she pointed out.

"Shouldn't I be, Conner and the others will take out Cannon Knight," Tommy explained smirking, "and they'll save us."

"I hope they have a plan to get to...where ever we are," Adam commented looking around.

"We're more than likely on the Moon base they were using to bring back Serpentera," Jason remarked before looking at Tommy, "do you think they have a plan."

"...They might have gotten a hold of Andros, other then that I'm not sure."

"Then we'll have to hope for the best, and hope that Zordon guides them," Kim sighed shaking her head.


	11. Chapter 10

The rangers tried to get up as Cannon Knight advanced on them, the machine monster ready to deliver the final blow and destroy the group. Conner's mind was racing, trying to figure out what they could do as he looked around and spotted a fire hydrant. Before Cannon Knight could launch his attack Zeo V pulled out his Power Pod Sword and his Laser Pistol, combined them, and took aim, firing at the hydrant and blasting the side off of it. With the hydrant broken open Cannon Knight was caught off guard as a torrent of water knocked him off balance, allowing Conner to get to his feet and fire his Advance Laser Pistol.

"Oh man that as close," Conner sighed lowering his weapon, "didn't think that would actually work."

"Talk about a quick draw, way to go man," Devin remarked as the other rangers got up.

"I'll say," Kira agreed.

"We're not done yet," the red ranger pointed out, "come on rangers let's finish this."

Drawing their Zeo weapons the rangers rushed forward, Kira blocking Cannon Knight's attack and striking him with her disc before stepping aside and allowing Cassidy to continue the attack. Following in behind them Ethan and Devin, Ethan slashing Cannon Knight multiple times and Devin delivering his own powerful blow to knock Cannon Knight onto his knee. With their opponent off guard the four rangers locked their arms together, Conner jumping onto them and the others launching him into the air. Holding out his Power Sword, Conner fired a volley of energy blast from the star on the hilt, causing explosions to go off around the robotic knight and allowing him to get close enough to slash him and break the cannon on his chest.

"Ow ow ow, that wasn't suppose to happen, how are you posers so strong?" he asked looking at them in shock.

Conner chuckled and shook his head stepping forward so he was in front of his team.

"You made a mistake Cannon Knight, we're not fakes, we're just wearing different ranger suits."

"Uh oh!"

"Let's put them together," Conner ordered, the rangers holding up their weapons.

The team combined their weapons, Conner taking a hold of the Zeo blaster as the others got on either side of him.

"Ready!" the boys stated.

"Aim!" the girls continued.

"W-wait a minute let's talk this out!" Cannon Knight pleaded.

"Fire!" Conner replied pulling the trigger.

The energy ball fired and struck Cannon Knight, the Machine Empire's minion exploding on contact. Watching this Mondo growled as his minion failed, his anger growing as these rangers.

"So they're stronger then we first thought, very well but I doubt even they know how to combat this," he remarked walking over to the computer.

Hitting a few buttons a laser fired from their base on the moon, the laser striking Earth where Cannon Knight was. The rangers took a step back as Cannon Knight reformed and grew, looking up at the now towering monster.

"Ah ha ha this is more I like it," Cannon Knight laughed as he attempted to step on them.

"Watch out!" Kira yelped as the rangers jumped out of the way.

Mondo chuckled as he watched the rangers dodge Cannon Knight's feet.

"We may not have Sprocket but we can still grow our machines, let's see how they fair against this."

"A devious idea my king," Machina laughed as Gasket and Archerina nodded.

"The rangers won't know what hit them," Gasket agreed.

The rangers jumped out of the way as Cannon Knight attempted to step on them, the large machine monster growing frustrated.

"Stand still so I can crush you rangers!" he demanded this time attempting to grab them.

"We need to think of something and fast," the blue ranger remarked as they stood up.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Conner asked looking over to his friend and girlfriend.

"You think they'll still be operational?" Kira asked grinning.

"Hayley, Alpha would the Zeo zords still work?" Conner asked.

" _Neither set of Zeo zords were destroyed so they should still be operational,"_ Alpha replied making him grin.

"Alright let's do it," Conner cheered.

"Which set should we call, normal or super?" Ethan asked punching his open palm.

"Wait are you guys talking about what we think you're talking about?" Cassidy asked confused.

"Cause if so that's going to be so cool," Devin remarked.

"Oh yeah I am, let's go super and show this fool who he's messing with!"

The rangers lined up and held up their hands, a ring of energy coming from each of them.

"We need Super Zeo Zord power now!"

Of in the distance a cannon fired off five shots, the Super Zeo zords landing in Reefside and the rangers teleporting into them with ease.

"Whoa this is completely different from our zords," Ethan remarked looking around his cockpit.

"Hey nice stereo," Kira chuckled as she landed in her cockpit.

"Oh man this is awesome!" Devin said as he got into his zord.

"We're so high up, I think I can see my house from here," Cassidy observed from her zord.

"Dad…" Conner whispered as he got into his zord, clenching his fist, "I'll make you proud."

"You rangers are finished!" Cannon Knight declared, firing his cannon at the zords.

The zords moved forward, the attack missing them and exploding behind them. Reaching Cannon Knight Conner used his zord to punch their opponent, Super Zeozord IV and III grabbing a hold of his arms and allowing Kira and Cassidy to attack. Using the force from the punch Ethan and Devin tossed Cannon Knight through the air and zords moving to line up in front of him.

"Time to combine our powers and end this," Conner grinned, "initiating Super Zeo Megazord."

The zords all flashed as the lepted into the air, combing with one another to form the Super Zeo Megazord. Landing the megazord got into a fighting stance, Cannon Knight standing up to see his new opponent.

"You think that's going to scare me?" he asked pointing at them.

"Oh we think you should be very terrified," Conner retorted, "Ready guys?"

"Oh yeah!" Devin grinned.

"Ready to go," Cassidy replied giving him a thumbs up.

"Do you even have to ask?" Ethan said patting his shoulder.

"We're right behind you Conner," Kira assured him.

The Super Zeo Megazord marched forward, avoiding the cannon blast heading its way, and swing it's fist back before striking Cannon Knight. Being pushed backwards Cannon Knight attempted to attack only for the Megazord to punch him again.

"Twin Zeo Sabers," Conner called out, the two sabers appearing in the Megazord's hand.

"Take this rangers!" Cannon Knight called back, firing his cannon.

Using the sabers the Megazord swatted the attack to the side and turned back to face its opponent.

"Let's do rangers," Conner ordered, the rangers all raising their hands.

"We call upon the power of the Super Zeo Sword Saber!"

Lightning emitted off the two swords as they were combined together, the blade glowing with energy as the Megazord brought the sword down and slashed Cannon Knight. Cannon Knight let out a roar as he as destroyed, the Super Zeo Megazord turning around as he exploded behind it. Inside the rangers had a small celebration, Devin and Cassidy hugging each other.

"Oh dudes that as awesome!" Devin stated high fiving Ethan.

"These powers are so cool!" the current yellow ranger said looking around, "and this Megazord took out that monster like it was nothing."

"We're not done yet we still have to save the original Zeo rangers and my mom," Conner reminded them, pressing a button, "Hayley is Andros ready?"

" _Yep, just head over to NASADA and they're waiting for you,"_ Hayley replied, _"good luck rangers and make sure not to do anything too stupid Conner."_

"Hey when have I ever done anything stupid?"

"Says every red ranger ever," Kira teased, playfully shoving him, "come on we have a ride to catch."

It didn't take too long for the rangers to make it to NASADA, TJ meeting them at the gate to let them in.

"TJ thanks for doing this," Conner thanked shaking TJ's hand.

"Not a problem, when other rangers are in danger we'll always be ready to help," TJ assured him, Cassie walking up next to him.

"But are you sure we shouldn't get a hold of a few more rangers to help us?" the pink ranger questioned.

Conner shook his head, promising to explain everything on the way to where the Space team had discovered the Machine Empire was. As they entered the building that housed the Astro Megaship, Cassidy and Devin came to a halt as they spotted the ship, both of them looking at it in awe.

"Amazing isn't it?" came a voice from behind them.

Cassidy spun around and saw a man and woman wearing the same outfit as Cassie and TJ, only with yellow and red shirts. Ashley smiled as she walked over to them, giving the Dino Thunder team a hug before turning to the other two.

"I'm Ashley, and this is my husband Andros, we're the…"

"The red and yellow space rangers!" Devin cut in looking at them, "we learned all about the space team and their journey through space."

"Yeah well those were only the fun part," TJ laughed, "we never told them about the time we had to deal with alien rats because someone forgot to dispose of their trash."

Conner grinned and shook his head as Cassidy asked a million and one questions, turning to his fellow red ranger.

"Again thanks for doing this for us Andros."

"Not a problem, the Zeo rangers and your parents are friends of ours so we're not going to turn our backs on them," Andros remarked patting his shoulder.

"And you're sure they're on the moon?" he asked frowning.

"I took a quick look and there are tons of Cogs at up there," the red space ranger explained, TJ nodding.

"The same factory that their generals used to try to resurrect Serpenterra," the blue space ranger jumped in, "and now they're doing some remodeling up there."

"The we need to get to the moon and fast," Ethan remarked rubbing the back of his head, "we don't know what Mondo has planned."

"Whatever it is, it won't be good," Kira sighed, Cassie and Ashley nodding in agreement.

Meanwhile at the Reefside hospital a figured appeared in Trent's room, looking down at the young man. Holding out his hand a staff appears and he holds it above Trent, a golden aura being casted upon the unconscious man. As the glow died down Trent groaned and opened his eyes, looking around to see where he was.

"Oh man what happened?" he groaned sitting up, "The last thing I remember was…"

He tensed up and spun to get out of bed.

"Venjix I have to warn GAH!" he yelled as he held his side.

"At ease Trent," the figure said stepping in front of him, "your team is already heading out to save Tommy and his teammates."

Trent looked up and saw the last person he ever thought he saw back on Earth, Trey of Triforia.

"W-whoa Trey? What are you doing here?"

"Conner has dug out the old Zeo powers to combat Mondo and the Machine Empire, I'm here to lend a hand," Trey explained.

"And how is healing me lending a hand, not that I'm complaining," the white ranger asked looking back up at the Gold ranger.

Trey grinned at the question, holding out the Gold Ranger Staff to Trent.

"I thought that you might like to help your team."


	12. Chapter 11

"Once we land on the moon we'll have to move fast," Andros explained as four of the younger rangers followed him, "Mondo is probably expecting us so we can't waste too much time."

"If you and your team focus on the Cogs then we could go and free the others, therefore giving us more fighters," Ethan suggested, the red ranger nodding.

"We can handle the Cogs easily you guys are the ones with the real fight on your hands," Carlos remarked clapping Ethan on the shoulder.

"They're right we're going to have our hands full with the royal family," Kira muttered thoughtfully, "as well as Venjix."

"But wait what if the other rangers are hurt and can't fight?" Devin asked frowning.

"Yeah like we can't ask them to fight if they're injured," Cassidy agreed.

"They're more resilient than you think guys," Ashley replied smiling, "as rangers we're capable of taking a hit."

Andros smirked as he watched the two newer rangers ask questions, the red ranger looking into the control room to see Conner standing there with his back turned to them.

"Hey why don't you guys show these two around the megaship some more," The red ranger suggested.

"Dude totally!" Devin replied, momentarily distracted.

As the group left Ashley turned to see Andros staying where he was.

"You coming?"

"...I'll… I'll catch up okay," Andros promised her, Ashley knowing he was lying.

"Alright we'll see you later," She replied walking after the others.

Conner looked out the window of the Astro Megaship, watching the stars as they made their way to the moon. Looking down he picked up the helmet for the red Zeo ranger and looked it over, running his gloved thumb over the star visor.

"We'll be arriving at the moon in a few moments," Andros remarked walking up to him.

"Alright," Conner replied, not looking up, "you know I never thought I'd see space like this, let alone the moon."

Andros looked over at the younger red ranger, watching him as he set the helmet back down and looked out at the moon. Placing his hand on his shoulder the Red Space ranger gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"You know when Tommy told us that you were his son, a lot of us kinda expected it," Andros explained looking down at the helmet, "it just...made sense I guess."

"That so?"

"Yeah once we once we all though it over, you look like Kim's brother, act like Tommy...at least while you're being a ranger," Andros looked out at the vast space before them, "we'll save them Conner, I promise."

"I know we will, we have to," Conner remarked picking up his helmet, "come on let's go over the plan with the others."

As the two red rangers left the command room they had DECA call the other rangers and moved to somewhere they could discuss the upcoming fight. Entering the room with the other rangers Andros stepped forward and brought up a hologram of the base where the Machine Empire was currently hiding.

"Conner you're the head of this mission so you take it from here," the red Space Ranger suggested looking at the younger man.

"Feel free to step in when you feel like," Conner said stepping forward, "as TJ and Andros know this is the base that the generals of the Machine Empire used to resurrect Serpentera, but right now it's housing the Royal Family, and seven of the past rangers."

"However it looks like their building on to it," TJ pointed out, pointing at a incomplete part of the building.

Zooming in he brought up a map of the inside of the base, something that Andros obtained after their first adventure there.

"If we're correct Mondo and his goons will be holding them in the part of the building so the five of us need to get to them as fast as we can and bust them out," Conner continued, "once we manage that we'll need to make our way back to the Megaship."

"What about this Mondo dude?" Devin asked frowning.

"When we run into them, and trust me we will, we'll handle them then," Conner remarked, "the Space Rangers will be handling the Cogs while we're inside."

"But won't there be Cogs inside as well?" Ethan asked raising an eyebrow.

"There will be but we have a feeling that they're going to do everything they can to keep us outside," Conner replied, "so while Andros and his team take care of them we'll push through and get inside, taking out any Cogs that are in there."

The Zeo rangers nodded and the Space Rangers grinned, ready for a chance to stretch their limbs again.

"DECA can you highlight the routes we were talking about earlier."

"Affirmative Conner," DECA replied, three highlighted routes making their way through the base.

"Kira, I want you and Cassidy to take this route, Ethan and Devin take the left," he told them, pointing to the routes, "I'll take the middle."

"All alone?" Kira asked concerned.

"Typical red ranger tactic," Ashley whispered to Andros, the red ranger shrugging.

"I'll be fine we won't be seperated for too long," he assured her, pointing to a large room in the middle, "Because all these corridors lead to this room, it's where we're certain they'll be holding the other rangers."

"Alright then so we have our plan," Ethan nodded, "not let's put it into action."

"Attention Rangers, we are now arriving at the moon," DECA spoke up catching their attention.

"Looks like we'll be doing that faster than we thought," Kira grinned patting Ethan on the shoulder.

"Let's do this rangers."

The ten rangers made their way out of the Megaship and over to a cliff overlooking the base, all of them seeing the Cogs that were guarding the place.

"Whoa this place is packed to the brim," Devin observed as he looked around.

"And we're suppose to take out all of them?" Cassidy asked biting her lower lip.

"We'll take out the as many as we can but we have our mission," Conner remarked lowering the binoculars, "You all ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be," Cassidy replied grinning at him.

Venjix was out making sure the Cogs were doing their jobs properly. Mondo knew that those rangers were going to make it to the base one way or another and he wanted everything ready so that they wouldn't get inside.

"You Cogs better stay focused, if one ranger gets inside you'll all pay dearly," Venjix called out, making sure that they heard him.

"Nice to know you're frightened of us."

"What?" Venjix growled turning around.

Venjix saw Conner and Andros standing not far off from the base, the two red rangers grinning at him.

"You, I remember you from the last time!" Venjix roared pointing at Andros.

"Glad to hear it cause it's going to go down just like last time," Andros said pointing back.

Venjix growled, his anger growing as eight others joined the two reds. Looking at one of the Cogs next to him he grabbed him by the back and tossed him forward.

"What are you waiting for, destroy those rangers!"

The ten rangers got into their fighting stances, the Cogs charging towards them as they ran forward to meet them. As the teams fought off the Cogs Venjix could see that the rangers were outnumbered easily, the general chuckling to himself.

"The Cogs outnumber those rangers they won't get inside before it's too late."

As the general left the rangers worked on picking off the Cogs all of them teaming up with their ranger color counterpart.

"Whoa I didn't think there'd be so many Cogs," Ethan grunted as he sweep kicked some of them, TJ jumping over him and finishing them off.

"Honestly I'm a little surprised too, we didn't realize that the Machine Empire would still have these kinds of resources," TJ admitted as he took down a few more.

Kira ran up on of the walls, the Cogs following her and crashing into said wall, as the current pink ranger landed behind them, Cassie joining her as they destroyed them.

"Maybe we should kick it up a notch then," Kira suggested looking over at the pink Space Ranger.

"I'm in," Cassie agreed giving her a thumbs up.

"Everyone let's morph!" Conner called out.

"It's Morphing Time!"

"Let's Rocket!"

As the two teams morphed they regrouped, the Cogs regrouping as well as they looked out at the ten rangers.

"Power Rangers!" the ten called out, an explosion of colors going off behind them.

"You guys go we have things handled here," Andros told Conner, the younger red ranger giving him a thumbs up.

"You got it, come Zeo Rangers," Conner ordered as the five ran off.

"The Zeo rangers must not get inside," one of the Cogs stated, the Cogs all moving to stop them only to be blocked by the Space Rangers.

"You're going to have to get through us first you buckets of bolts," Carlos retorted.

"Come on we got to hold them off," Andros remarked, the five rangers charging to take care of the Cogs.

As the Space Rangers held off the foot soldiers the Zeo rangers ran inside coming to the hallways where they'd split up.

"Okay you guys you know what to do," Conner said clenching his fist, "take out any Cogs that get in the way and get to the main room, once we're there the real fight starts."

"Right," the replied, giving him a thumbs up.

As the group split up Kira stopped and turned back to her boyfriend.

"Conner...be careful okay," she said placing her hand over her heart.

"I will I promise," Conner nodded, "I'll see you in there."

"Right," she nodded back, turning and running off to catch up with Cassidy.

Turning to head down his hallway, Conner clenched his fist and took off, his mind racing as he made his way to where he knew the big fight was going to be.

"Mom, Dad, I'm coming for you," he muttered to himself as he pushed himself to go faster.

"It would seem that the Cogs have failed in keeping those power pest outside my dear," Machina remarked as they watched the Zeo Rangers enter the building.

"How unfortunate, and here our great general is inside with us instead of out there with the Cogs fighting," Gasket stated looking over at Venjix.

"Just what are you getting at?" Venjix growled stepping towards him.

"All I'm saying is that you left before you were certain of the rangers' defeat," Gasket continued, pushing him back, "a good general would have waited, joined the battle even if the tides looked like they weren't in their favor."

"Why you little."

"Enough the both of you," Mondo barked making them stop, "Those power rangers are heading this way so we need to be ready."

"Yes my king," Venjix replied bowing.

"As you say father," Gasket remarked standing down, "trust me those rangers won't know what hit them, once they enter the door to the Coliseum they'll be crushed."


	13. Chapter 12

Tommy grunted as he was shoved onto the ground by some of the leftover Cogs that Mondo had watching over them. Standing up he saw that he was now in the coliseum that Gasket had mentioned earlier, his teammates/friends all there with him as they looked around to take in their surroundings.

"Well this takes me back," Jason muttered as he spotted a familiar throne.

Tommy nodded as he spotted the throne as well, the same throne he sat in when he was brainwashed to believe he was the king of the Machine Empire.

"I'm destroying that throne this time," he stated darkly, his eyes flashing green.

"Why are we here?" Kim asked rubbing her wrist where the shackles had been.

"My guess, they plan on trying to finish us off here," Adam remarked looking around, "they might think it's poetic to do it here since this place looks exactly like the one where they brainwashed Tommy."

The green ranger looked over at his friend and grinned apologetically.

"Sorry if I brought up any bad memories."

"It's fine nothing that wasn't already on my mind," Tommy waved it off, Kim walking over and rubbing his back.

The team looked around, trying to find a way out but seeing that the only doors were the one they came through and ones at the top of the building for the audience. Circling up with their back to each other the team kept an eye out for anything that could possibly happen when they heard the sound of a mechanical laugh.

"You can look all you want rangers," Mondo laughed as he waddled into view, "But rest assure that this place will be your grave."

"You're not going to get away with this Mondo," Jason called back growling.

"Oh contraire gold ranger," Machina laughed standing next to her husband, "I think we'll get away with this no problem whatsoever."

"In fact the show is just about to begin," Gasket called out from the other side of the coliseum.

Tommy clenched his fist as he glared at the machine king, wishing that he had his morpher so that he could fight back. The ranger legend did a double take at that thought, he never needed his powers to fight, in fact when they were younger they relied out their skills, though the power up they got when morphed when push came to shove.

"You tried to beat us once before and lost, what makes you think you'll win this time?" Tanya asked cockily.

"Tanya's right, you can't beat us," Rocky agreed.

"Agree to disagree," Mondo retorted as he tapped his staff on the ground, "now then there has been enough talk, it's time to get onto the main event."

Without a second's hesitation Mondo unleashed a blast of energy towards the rangers, the seven of them ducking out of the way before it could hit them. As Tommy rolled to his feet he was suddenly tackled from the side and knocked back down, the ranger legend looking up to see Gasket standing in front of him.

"What's the matter Tommy I thought you were going to beat me," Gasket laughed as he pushed himself up.

"Now now my son you must not provoke him," Mondo scolded as he made his way over to him, "we both know well what he can do when angry."

Tommy clenched his fist and looked around to see if he was going to team up to fight Gasket and Mondo or if they were all preoccupied at the moment. Unfortunately it was the latter as Kim and Kat were busy fighting Machina and Archerina, Jason was fighting Venjix, and Adam and Tanya were handling the swarm of Cogs that had joined the fray.

'Guess I'm on my own,' he mentally groaned as he turned his attention back to the two, 'eh I've faced greater odds before.'

"Are you ready Tommy?" Mondo asked pointing his staff at him.

"And here I thought you'd attack me while I was down."

"There is no sport in attacking an opponent while he's down," the king remarked with a wave around, "besides I want you to suffer for a while, suffer in agonizing defeat and watch as your friends are destroyed one by one."

"Keep dreaming Mondo," Tommy smirked.

'Conner you better hurry, we're good but even I'm not sure we can beat these guys,' Tommy thought as he began his fight with Mondo and Gasket.

As Conner turned a corner he stopped as he saw a group of Cogs blocking his way. Before the foot soldiers could even respond though he swiftly stepped in and took them out, the red ranger not in the mood to deal with them.

"I'm guessing not all the Cogs are fighting Andros and his team," he muttered to himself kicking on of the defeated Cogs out of his way, "I guess that's good cause it takes some of the heat off of them but that slows us down."

Shaking his head he turned his attention back to way he was heading and figured it was time to check in with the others.

"Rangers how's it going on your end?" He asked as he held up his wrist.

" _Oh you know, just a love little walk down the hallway…"_ came Ethan's reply.

Ethan ducked behind a corner, Devin opposite him as the Cogs fired at them, preventing them from going any further.

"Down a hallway clogged with Cogs."

"These guys are really starting to bug me," Devin grumbled as he poked around the corner and fired his blaster at them, taking a couple out.

"Welcome to our world," Ethan remarked shaking his head, "anyway Conner we'll be starting up here in a couple of seconds, just got to take these robots out first."

" _That's fine Ethan just do what you can,"_ Conner replied before speaking to the girls, _"Kira what about you two?"_

Kira backflipped down the hall as some Cogs took a swing at her Cassidy stepping pass her and striking them as they got too close. Land and spinning on the ball of her foot Kira knocked out another Cog as she came to a halt, raising her wrist so she could reply.

"We got Cogs here too, guessing that Mondo figure some of us would get through."

" _Most likely, how many more do you got?"_

"Not a lot," Kira remarked as Cassidy took out another Cog, "honestly Cassidy has impressed me."

" _Devin's doing great as well, it's almost as if they were suppose to be rangers,"_ Ethan stated.

" _A discussion for another time,"_ Conner replied, the sound of Cogs hitting the ground filling the comms, _"my hall's clear and I'm almost there, what's your ETA?"_

" _We just cleared ours,"_ Ethan replied, Kira looking around after blasting the last couple of minions.

"Our's is good too," She answered rubbing her wrist, "we'll meet you at the door."

"Remind me why we split up again," Cassidy huffed as she rolled her shoulder.

"To take out as many of these things we can," Kira said kicking on of the defeated bodies, "the less interference when we get to the other rangers the better."

Cassidy nodded and followed after her fellow female ranger towards the rendezvous point, the hall twisting this way and that until their red ranger came into view, Kira not stopping as she ran up and hugged him.

"Whoa there, you okay?" Conner asked looking at the current pink ranger.

"I could ask you the same thing Conner," Kira huffed smacking his arm, "I get that you're the red ranger and all but I still get worried when you run off on your own."

"You've been spending way too much time with my mom and Aunt Kat."

"And you with your dad and Uncle Jason."

"Did I miss anything?" Ethan asked as he and Devin ran up.

"Yeah like why is there a crap ton of Cogs broken on the ground the way Conner came from?" Devin asked pointing towards the red ranger's corridor.

Conner shrugged in response.

"Guess they knew I was taking that one."

Conner turned back to the door and clenched his fist ready to end this.

"Alright ranger time to show them who they're dealing with," he stated, "you ready?"

"Ready!" Ethan and Devin replied giving him a thumbs up.

"Ready and waiting," Cassidy stated.

"We're all behind you Conner," Kira remarked with a nod.

Conner nodded and the five pulled out their blaster before taking aim at the door. Without another word the five fired and the panel locking the door exploded, a click and a soft hiss filling the room as the door opened.

Leaning back Tommy avoided Mondo's attack, shifting the weight of his body to also avoid Gasket trying to sweep kick him. The original green ranger panted as he took a step back his age starting to catch up with him.

"You look tired Tommy," Mondo laughed as he observed his opponent, "what's the matter you getting rusty?"

"That's funny, coming from you," Tommy smirked, "nah I'm just getting started."

Taking a swing at the older of the two Tommy kept up his momentum and spun around, raising his leg and kicking out at Gasket. While his initial attack did miss though he was quickly able to kick the prince a few feet back, giving him some room to press an attack against Mondo. The king of the Machine Empire though was ready for that and blocked each of his attacks with his staff, Gasket moving in and attacking Tommy himself, knocking the multicolored ranger back down.

"You're mine red ranger!" Gasket declared as he attacked.

"I'm not done yet!" Tommy grunted, pushing himself into the air and spinning to avoid the attack.

As Gasket's sword got stuck into the concrete of the ground Tommy landed and grabbed a hold of the prince, lifting him off the ground before calling out.

"Jason!"

Turning around Jason saw Gasket get flung his way, the original red ranger knowing what was going through his friend's mind. Avoiding Venjix's attack, he proceeded to use the general to launch himself into the air, meeting the prince and kicking him back down to the ground with a resounding clank as metal met concrete.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" he grinned getting back into a fighting stance.

"The prince!" Venjix growled, clenching his fist and getting ready to rush his opponent.

"Oh no you don't," Adam stated stepping in front of him, "You're fights with me now!"

"Out of my way green ranger!"

"Humph it seems that I'll be fighting you alone from now on," Mondo huffed as he turned back towards Tommy, "no matter though I'll defeat you without my son."

"That's a pretty bold statement for a rusted up robot," Tommy taunted.

Mondo didn't take that well and lashed out, Tommy using Mondo's rage against him to avoid the attacks and land a few himself. But the more the former red ranger as able to hit him the more Mondo realized that losing his temper wasn't going to help him and, calming himself down with the promise that this annoying gnat was soon going to be erased from his life, Mondo managed to start to block Tommy's attack. The two traded blow for blow and, seeing an opening, Mondo used his staff to trip Tommy and fired an energy attack at him to keep him moving.

Tommy groaned as he hit the ground, the sound of metal foot falls making him look up to see King Mondo standing above him. Looking over to the side he saw his friends and wife fighting off the Machine Empire with little to no effect. There was just too many of them.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time Zeo V," Mondo stated looking down at him, "and now the time has come for me to have my revenge against you and your team for destroying my empire!"

"Tommy get out of there!" Jason yelled out from behind him, Gasket holding him back.

"Tommy!" Kim called out, fighting off some Cogs to get to him but being blocked as more showed up.

"You're friends won't be able to help you Tommy," Mondo stated smugly, "But rest assure once I'm finished with you they'll join soon after."

Before Mondo could deliver the finishing blow a large explosion caught him off guard, knocking him off balance and making him stumble a few feet away from Tommy. Tommy pushed himself up and peered through the smoke, five blurred figures making their way through it.

"Sorry Mondo," Came a voice that Tommy knew all too well, Zeo V walking through the smoke with the others following him, "But I'm going to have to stop you right there."


	14. Chapter 13

Mondo and Gasket stared down the red ranger in front of them and then down at Tommy who was still on the ground. They knew that they should be expecting these so called 'Zeo Rangers' but to actually have them there in the room with them was making the King of the Machine Empire more irritated then he had thought possible. Not to mention the fact that they had made it there before they were able to destroy the actual Zeo Rangers.

"So you actually made it here, I'm impressed," Mondo stated as he sized the red ranger up, "you might have actually made good rangers had you valued your lives a little while longer."

"I think you underestimate us Mondo," Conner retorted, pointing at the king, "we might not be the actual Zeo team but we still have experience as rangers."

"Um Conner, only three of us have experience remember," Devin whispered to the red ranger quickly.

"I know that but they don't Devin, don't worry you two just avoid the main bads and handle the Cogs cause I have a feeling that they'll be summoning whatever's left of them," Conner advised his friend, giving him a thumbs up.

Devin nodded and stepped back, giving Cassidy a nod when he saw her look at him. Mondo either didn't see this or didn't care as he kept his gaze on the Red Zeo Ranger in front of him and below him, his family and general joining him as the few Cogs they had left held back the older rangers.

"Let me guess, you wish to save the actual Zeo Rangers don't you? To have your chance in the spotlight?" Mondo surmised almost laughing, "you boy, the one who dares wear this scum's color…"

Conner took a step forward as Mondo stepped down on Tommy some more, his fist clenching and unclenching as he tried to remain calm.

"What?"

"You're his son are you not?" Mondo asked knowingly.

"And what of it?" Came Conner's retort.

Mondo had to admit the red ranger had the same attitude to that of the ranger pinned beneath his foot, that was for certain, and it irritated him. But he remained calm and continued their little chat an idea popping up in his head.

"How about this, you, the son of my sworn enemy, versus my son Prince Gasket," The Machine Empire King suggested, "winner takes all."

"Father?"

Gasket looked at his father confused, uncertain of what it was he was planning. After all Mondo could be planning Gasket's own demise couldn't he, so the Prince felt it only natural to be on edge.

"Hush boy I'm negotiating," Mondo barked at him, Gasket clenching his fist.

"Negotiating my demise!"

"You wouldn't!" Archerina hissed indignantly.

Mondo felt as if he could laugh at the situation, honestly it was all too good. Why he would possibly not bat an eye at his son's death he of course had a plan to ensure that Gasket won. After all while these rangers had proven themselves at least a little bit, there was no way they could beat the royal family.

"At ease my son," he cautioned, turning to him, "I assure you that none of the Royal family will fall today."

Making sure that no one else could hear them the king quickly added.

"After all I have a plan to make sure you'll win."

"Oh?"

"Yes Venjix will make it so that the red ranger will fall, all you have to do is make it look like you're losing," the king explained glancing at the said ranger, "after all he maybe Tommy's son but I doubt he has his skills."

"Father I assure you I can best him myself I don't need Venjix to step in!" Gasket retorted in indignation.

"Of that I'm certain my son but now is not the time for prideful boasting we are her to win after all."

Gasket huffed but nodded in response, understanding what his father was getting at, even if he didn't like it.

"So red ranger what do you say?" Mondo asked, Conner narrowing his eyes behind his visor.

"You seem pretty sure of yourself Mondo."

"A king must always be sure of himself," Mondo explained motioning for some Cogs to come and take Tommy back to the other rangers, "and I'm sure that my son will easily be able to beat you."

"Conner don't do!" Kim called out to as some Cogs held her back.

"Your mom's right Conner don't fight him," Kira agreed taking a hold of his arm.

Mondo chuckled again, loving every second of this.

"What's the matter red ranger, I thought that you'd be more like your father, ready to jump into the fight," he taunted his wife laughing alongside him.

Conner took another step forward, Ethan and Kira grabbing him to keep from going any further.

"Conner what are you doing?" Ethan asked his friend.

"Not sure yet, but I'm about to figure it out," He growled in response.

"Conner shake your head," Tommy ordered the younger red ranger.

"He's playing you rookie don't fall for it," Jason called out.

Conner gave them a nod but otherwise kept his eyes on the royal family in front of him. He weighed the options in his mind of fighting Gasket against fighting all of the Royal family and even added in the fact that he was certain that Mondo was more than likely planning something to not keep his word.

"Conner…" Cassidy muttered behind him.

"Uh dude you okay?" Devin asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"Yeah I am," the red ranger nodded, turning towards them, "listen I'm going to fight Gasket but I need you four ready to jump in at a seconds notice alright."

"Wait what?" the temp yellow ranger asked confused.

"Conner what are you planning?" Ethan asked placing his hand on his shoulder.

"I told you, I'm going to fight Gasket, but I have a feeling that Mondo isn't going to keep it just between the two of us," he explained before giving them a thumbs up, "trust me okay."

The four others looked at each other and then nodded towards their leader, taking a step back as Conner turned back to their robotic foes.

"Alright then, just me and Gasket," he agreed getting into his father's fighting stance.

"Yes just you and Gasket," Mondo agreed with a nod.

Giving the Prince a nod, Mondo stepped back as Gasket entered the ring of Cogs that surrounded his opponent. The two sets of rangers did their best to see what was going on, the younger rangers still ready to fight as their red ranger requested.

"Alright guys just like Conner said, we need to be ready at a seconds notice," Ethan muttered, Devin and Cassidy nodding.

"So what do you think Conner is planning?" Kat whispered as she kept her eyes trained on the two combatants.

"Not sure but I know he'll fight with all he gots," Adam remarked, Rocky nodding in agreement.

"Whatever he has planned it's probably boneheaded but will most likely work," Kim sighed shaking her head.

Tommy grinned at that, knowing full well that was most likely true with any red ranger plan, and rubbed his chest where Mondo's foot was as he watched Conner and Gasket start to circle each other. Conner made a move to step forward, Gasket countering by attacking as quickly as he could before the red ranger could get a hit in. Fast and powerful was the name of the game after all. Conner however planned for this and countered back, blocking the few attacks Gasket threw at him and kicking him back before kicking himself off the ground and spinning in midair, lashing out with a second attack. Stumbling back Gasket looked up at Conner and drew his sword rushing forwards to attack Conner. Leaning back Conner managed to dodge the attack and drew his fist back, his fist glowing red before he punched Gasket and sent him flying.

"Gah!" Gasket grunted as he hit the ground, scrambling to get up.

"Gasket what are you doing?" his mother asked the prince exasperated, "Get up and defeat the red ranger this instant!"

Gasket grumbled under his breath as he got back up and picked up his sword, rushing Conner once again moving to avoid the attack. This time though Gasket anticipated it and twisted his body and sword so that he is able to hit his opponent Conner getting flipped through the air.

"Whoa!" he yelped, landing on the ground a second later.

"You won't get me with that trick again red ranger," the prince warned as Conner got back up.

Dusting himself off the red ranger got back into his fighting stance and summoned his Zeo weapon as Gasket drew his sword. The two crouched down and lunged at each other and crossed blades, pushing against the other in a hope to overpower their opponent. Watching from the sidelines Kira could feel her whole body twitch as she waited for the okay to step in and help, but even she could tell that Conner wasn't going to let that happen, at least not yet. The two combatants were way too into the fight for them to let there be any interference and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that something seemed…off.

"Ethan," she whispered to the blue ranger, her fellow teammate glancing over at her, "this doesn't feel right."

"You feel it too huh?"

"Wait what do you two feel?" Cassidy asked confused.

"Yeah cause I'm going to guess that we don't feel what you guys are feeling," Devin remarked motioning to him and the yellow ranger.

"Just get ready to fight you two, I got a feeling Mondo isn't going to keep his promise about it just being Conner and Gasket," the pink Zeo ranger informed them, keeping her eyes on the fight.

On the other side Tommy's eyes kept flicking back and forth between his son and the other currently morphed rangers. Without even looking at the other rangers next to him he could tell that Jason was doing the same as him and they both had the same idea, Kira and Ethan had figured out Mondo's double cross.

"So how much longer do you think Mondo's going to keep this up?" Jason whispered low enough so only Tommy would hear.

"Not sure but knowing him…"

Tommy closed his eyes for a second and thought it through.

"…Not much longer."

Jason frowned and nodded, motioning to the other veteran rangers with them that they need to be ready to fight. This made Tommy grin as he watched them out of his peripheral. Sometimes being a ranger meant that you were always ready to fight even if you had promised to put the morpher down once and for all.

Conner slid across the ground on his knees as he leaned back, Gasket's sword missing his visor by mere centimeters as he spun around and got back to his feet. Twirling his sword the red ranger parried the next attack and lashed out in a counter, Gasket blocking as well and stepping forward in an attempt to push said ranger back.

"Just give up ranger you can't beat me."

"Ever hear the phrase like father, like son?" Conner retorted pushing back.

Gasket growled, not liking at all where this was going.

"What about it?"

"My dad beat yours now I'm going to beat you!"

This seemed to irritate not only the prince but the king as well as Mondo clenched his fist around his staff and slammed it's butt onto the ground.

"Enough of this, Venjix get in there and aid Gasket in finishing the red ranger off," Mondo demanded, his General nodding and quickly jumping into action.

"Whoa!" Conner yelped as he rolled out of the way of Venjix's attack, the red ranger turning to face not one but two opponents now, "okay this just isn't fair."

"Looks like it's time to crash this party!" Devin suggested, the others nodding in agreement.

"Oh no you don't Cogs stop them!" Machina demanded their foot soldiers.

The Cogs gave a nod and joined the fray, trying to keep the other rangers away but leaving the older rangers by themselves.

"No you fools you left the others unguarded!" Archerina growled irritably, stamping her foot.

"Looks like those rusted old bots haven't learned a thing since the nineties," Adam grinned as the Cogs left.

"Doesn't seem so," Tanya agreed happily.

"Come on guys let's show these younglings what it's like to fight old school," Tommy remarked, rushing into join the fight.

Mondo watched as the rangers fought of his son and forces, his anger growing each second. The former rangers were aiding the younger rangers with whoever it was they were fighting, with the yellow, green, and blue ranger fighting alongside the former of their colors along with Jason and Tommy to handle the Cogs, while the pink rangers were fighting Acherina. The only thing that was making this the slightest bit better was it seemed that cocky son of Tommy's was having a bit of trouble fighting off bot Gasket and Venjix.

"Honestly you want one thing, one little thing, but people just refuse to sit quietly and submit," Mondo complained watching the fight.

"Relax my darling these pest will be dealt with soon enough, and it's not like those space rangers could get pass the Cogs holding them back," his wife assured him, Mondo nodding in response, "The question is what shall we do after the Zeo rangers and this growl of wannabes are destroyed…"

"A discussion for afterwards I assume," Mondo replied "First we must make sure of our victory, the only thing that could make this any worse would be…"

Red lightning struck the ground around the rangers, knocking the forces of the Machine Empire back some feet.

"Now then this doesn't look very fair…" came a voice from above them.

The rangers all looked up to see who had come to their aid, all of them surprised to see the gold Zeo ranger standing on the ledge holding out his staff. Seeing the gold ranger, once again, filled Mondo with anger as he clenched his fist so tightly that a snap could be heard as he broke his staff.

"I just had to open my mouth didn't I?"

"Who said you could start the party with out me?" the gold ranger asked, a smile in his voice.

"T-Trey?" Conner asked confused as he looked at the ranger.

"Who you calling Trey, Conner?" the sixth ranger asked, his voice becoming clearer.

Conner couldn't help but grin as he realized who had come to their aid.

"White Dino Ranger and Temp Gold Ranger, ready to rock!" Trent called out giving them a thumbs up.


	15. Chapter 14

With the arrival of the gold ranger, and his attack that pushed back the Cogs and royal family, both groups of rangers used the distraction to launch a counter attack. Twirling the staff Trent jumped from the platform he was on and joined his team, landing next to Conner who was dueling Mondo and Gasket.

"Looks like you could use some help," Trent noted as he blocked Gasket and nailed him hard enough to cause the Prince to stumble.

"The thought crossed my mind," Conner joked as he parried Mondo, the red and gold ranger moving to stand back to back, "Man am I glad to see you."

"Glad to hear it, on your left!"

Conner spun around and used his sword to parried Gasket as Trent countered Mondo and placed his staff against the king's chest, the staff opening and blasting him. The two moved in sync with each other, constantly switching opponents to throw them off. Slashing Gasket a few times Conner bent down and allowed Trent to roll across his back, the gold ranger kicking the prince over to Archerina and Machina, the two females of the royal family fighting Kira, Kim, and Kat.

"Gasket!" Archerina yelped seeing her husband.

"No my son!" Machina gasped, the two helping him up.

"You! You'll pay for that gold ranger!" Gasket roared in anger.

"Yeah like we haven't heard that one before," Trent rolled his eyes and gave the Prince a 'bring it' gesture.

Kira shook her head as Conner and Trent continued their fights, the new pink ranger turning her attention back to Machina.

"Well then since the boys are playing," she grinned stepping forward, "Why don't we have some fun."

"I'll make you regret those words you fake," Machina hissed attacking her.

Kira flipped backwards and went down into the splits to avoid the attacks, using her disc to strike the queen. Pushing herself off the ground, Kira continued her attack, pushing the queen back with each strike while trying to keep her away form Archerina and the two older pink rangers.

"Just give up Machina your family failed once and they'll fail again," Kira ordered as Machina held her side.

"That's where you're wrong girly, the Machine Empire will be victorious this time and your false team will be the first to fall."

Acherina yelped as she hit the ground next to her mother in law, Machina huffing and helping her up as Kat and Kim joined Kira.

"And what's going to happen if you do beat us here Machina?" Kat questioned, "there are more rangers down on Earth, rangers that will stand against you."

"They'll keep coming, keep fighting," Kim added with a grin, "and even if you somehow managed to beat all of them…"

"And that's a VERY big if," Kat smirked.

"A new team will rise to fight you," Kira finished.

"And we'll defeat them all the same!" Machina hissed in retort, her and Archerina launching an attack at the three.

The three pink dodged, Kira pulling out her sidearm and firing at the two as Kim and Kat rushed in to blitz them. Despite having trained under them, having watched the two spar with each other, Kira was still awestrucked by just how powerful the two were even without their powers to back them up. Kim and Kat moved as if it were a dance and neither were allowing Machina or Archerina to hit them. Smiling, Kira placed her sidearm away and pushed herself forward to join the two older pink rangers, blocking one of Acherina's attacks meant for Kim and knocking her away.

'Kira's getting better everyday,' Kim observed as she watched Kira fight Acherina, her eyes quickly flickering over to her son now fighting Gasket, 'it won't be long before we're no longer needed, the next generation is ready to take their place as protectors of the world.'

Venjix growled in frustration as he fought against Tommy and Jason, the two proving to be more annoying then he previously anticipated. However an opening presented itself and Venjix was able to grab a hold of Jason's wrist and bring him in closer, striking the older red ranger. Jason grabbed onto his wrist as well and held him there, smirking at the general as Tommy attacked from behind, striking Venjix and knocking them onto his knees.

"Aren't you two a little old for this?" Venjix growled standing up.

"Like I haven't heard that before," Tommy grinned, Venjix lashing out to hit them.

The two side stepped the attack and at the sametime kicked him into the gut, boosting him into the air. With a grunt he fell back to the ground, the general pushing himself up to his feet and picking up his sword.

"I will destroy the two of you for what you've done, both in the past and for today," he declared, his arms trembling slightly in exhaustion.

"Then show us what you got Venjix," Jason retorted as they both got into a fighting stance.

"Cause it looks like you're getting a tired," Tommy finished.

Venjix hated to admit it, really really hated it, but Tommy was right, he was on his last leg. But he wasn't going to allow them the pleasure of knowing that. Figuring it was all or nothing Venjix pushed himself forward, vowing to either take the two out or die trying.

The rest of the group, both young and old, had found themselves in the midst of a massive group of Cogs and clearing them out one by one. Tanya smiled as she watched a Cog vanished in front her, her attention turning to Cassidy who was surrounded and struggling to keep up. Rushing over Tanya jumped over a Cog and kicked it back before turning around and helping the young yellow ranger up.

"How are you holding up?" she asked dusting her off.

"How are you guys so good at this?" Cassidy asked as she took out a Cog, Tanya meanwhile taking out three more, "I mean I'm trying I really am, but…"

Tanya struck down a few more Cogs, kicking a fallen one on the ground up and into a few heading their way. She understood where the girl was coming from, she herself has gone through it when she first became a ranger as well. The fear of having the safety of the world on your shoulder was something one never truly got over. Well except for maybe Tommy but he was a complete different story.

"Listen sweetie we've been at this for a while now, even Conner, Kira, Trent, and Ethan," the older yellow ranger said looking at her, "there's no one moment when you figure it out it just….happens over time."

Cassidy looked down at her gloved hands and clenched them before looking up and nodding.

"Right, thank you Mrs. Parks," she said determinedly.

"Your welcome Miss…"

"Cassidy."

"Well Cassidy you can call me Tanya," She smiled, noting some more Cogs heading their way, "now let's show these tin cans why you don't mess with a yellow ranger."

In retrospect, Devin was certain that had the Space Rangers been with them then this fight would have more or less been over by now and they could have aided their friends but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Grabbing an attacking Cog he tossing it upwards as Adam kicked off a wall and twisted his body in midair to kick the minion into a group that Tanya and Cassidy were fighting.

"You sure you haven't done this before kid?" Adam asked jokingly, looking over at the green ranger.

"Heh yeah pretty sure," Devin replied as he took out a couple of Cogs, "it's insane, like my body is moving on autopilot."

Adam laughed to himself, recalling what it was like when he, Aisha, and Rocky all became rangers. He had felt just like this kid was feeling right now but unlike him, as far as he knew at least, he had some form of martial arts training to fall back on.

"Yeah I get that but don't worry you'll get use to it," he promised sidestepping the attack and elbowing the Cog in the back.

"Not sure about that pretty sure this will be mine and Cassidy's first and last time."

"We'll see about that," Adam smirked shaking his head.

The morphing grid worked in mysterious ways after all so it wouldn't be out of the question for these two newbies to be called upon again. The former green ranger smirked as he heard a Cog behind him, the Cog leaping from a near crate at him. Moving at an almost blinding speed Adam lashed out and grabbed a hold of it, slamming it hard on to the ground. Devin watched in awe as this happened the Cog he had a hold on beeping in horror at the display.

"Whoa that was awesome!"

"There's a reason were legends kid," Adam remarked rolling his shoulder, "now come on there's still a shit ton more of these guys to take out."

Devin nodded and knocked out the Cog in his grasp before running over to join Adam, Tanya, and Cassidy.

Rocky shook his head as a few Cogs ran at him, the original Zeo III doing a few backflips to but some distance between them. That was, of course, a temporary fix as even more Cogs jumped at him, Rocky going down to one knew as they striked at him. He was able to block most of the attacks though, using their momentum to toss them back and clear a path for him to roll out of the way.

"You would think they would learn by now," Rocky grunted to himself, "that they've never nor will they ever beat us."

"Incorrect," one of the Cogs replied, "your destiny is to be destroyed here in this base, the victory of the royal family is assured."

"That's cute you think I was talking to you."

Ethan was slicing his way through the group of Cogs he was fighting using his Power Axes each strike hitting true.

"You guys are on the same level as Tyrannodrones," he remarked slashing two more, "plentiful and easy to defeat."

Tossing his weapons into the air Ethan fell on to his back and brought his legs up as a Cog attacked and tripped as it missed. Keeping up his momentum he pushed himself back up and kicked the Cog that just attacked him. Reaching up he caught the axes and blocked one Cog while striking another, pushing away and striking the first one with a flick of his wrist. Rocky chuckled as he glanced at Ethan, an idea forming in his head.

"Hey Ethan," he called out to the younger ranger, Ethan looking over to him, "double whammy?"

"You're on!"

The Cog in between them look at both rangers as they ran towards it, kicking it on either side of the head and the Cog somehow making a hilarious cartoony noise. Rocky shook his head as he looked down at the Cog, Ethan scratching the back of his neck.

"Did...did that Cog just…"

"Don't think too hard on it Ethan," Rocky cautioned, patting the younger blue's shoulder, "you'll keep your sanity that way."

Ethan nodded, the other rangers that were dealing with the Cogs joining them and looking over at the ones still fighting.

"Shouldn't we help?" Cassidy asked the older rangers.

"That would be a good idea but…"

"They've got this handled," Adam cut Tanya off, "for now let's go help the Space Rangers."

The others nodded and Ethan took one last chance to look over at Conner, the red ranger looking back and giving him a thumbs up. Ethan returned the gesture and ran off to join the others outside and help finish off the rest of the Cogs.

"Some of the Zeo rangers are escaping!" Venjix growled as he pushed Tommy and Jason away.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Mondo rebuked his general, "leave Tommy and Jason to us and go after them."

Venjix nodded and rushed off after them, leaving Tommy and Jason behind as the chased the machine general.

"Dad hold on!" Conner called out, Tommy stopping in his tracks.

Avoiding Gasket's attack Conner looked over at Kat and Trent, giving both of them a quick nod and motioning towards where Jason was standing.

"Trent, go with Kat and Jason after Venjix and help the others we'll stay behind and take care of the royal family."

Trent nodded and both he and Kat ran off to follow after Jason, leaving only the royal family and the Oliver family.

"So this is how you choose to be defeated is it?" Mondo laughed as his family gathered around him, "How pitiful, too cowardly to be destroyed in front of your friends?"

"Don't worry they'll be joining you in due time," Gasket sneered as his wife laughed.

"Conner?"

Kira looked over at her boyfriend and saw his demorph, a glance in her direction telling her to do the same. With the four demorphed the two sides stood facing each other, glaring at their opponents.

"Well then this will be the final showdown then," Mondo laughed loudly, "a full on family grudge match!"


	16. Chapter 15 pt1

The two families stood facing each other, with the rangers taking to a fighting stance while Mondo clenched his fist, ready to finish this once and for all. The silence in the room was near deafening and the pressure in the room felt as if it could crush you. Seconds passed, but still no one moved from their spot, either sizing up their opponent of imagining their defeat, until finally Conner slide his foot forward a fraction of an inch.

The result was instant with Gasket bolting forth to meet the young red ranger, Conner ducking down to avoid the oncoming blade and spinning into a kick. The others moved without hesitation, Kira taking on Acherina, Kim taking on Machina, and Tommy taking on Mondo in a true family brawl. The energy in the room seemingly exploded with each attack, flashes of red, pink, yellow, and green filled the air as the eight fought.

Kira could feel her muscles start to ache, they had after all been fighting for a while, but her mind wasn't focusing on the pain in her arms. It was on the so called princess in front of her. The one who was threatening her family, who had taken her future in-laws and wanted to destroy them for all the world to see. Acherina was using a bow to attempt to pin her down and keep her at a distance but training with Kim and Kat had prepared her for such a fight.

"Why won't you just die?!" Acherina yelled firing arrow after arrow, Kira remaining light on her feet.

An arrow flew pass the young yellow ranger turned pink, grazing her cheek but not breaking the skin, and Kira took note that Acherina seemed ecstatic that she almost had her.

'She thinks she's getting the drop on me,' she hummed in her mind, 'she's going to be disappointed when she finds that I'm able to read her attacks.'

Not long into their fight Kira had found a tell of when Acherina was going to fire her weapon, a slight twitch in her wrist before the arrow was released. She used that to her advantage, staying still just long enough for Acherina to take aim before moving out of the way. Kira was trying her best to gain some ground so that Acherina's bow wouldn't be an issue, a soft yellow glow around her hands as she reached out for her dino powers and summon her weapons without alerting the princess.

"Ptera Grips!" she cried once she got close enough, the cry enough to startle her foe.

"W-what?!"

With a downward slash Kira's weapon slammed against the grip of the bow and pushed the princess back. Spinning to avoid Acherina's counterattack she lunged forward again and attempted to attack her again, Acherina blocking the attack and pushing Kira back.

"You rangers are just so damned persistent," the princess huffed irritable, "a real thorn in my side."

"That's cute, really it is," Kira grinned, "cause we could say the same about you."

Growling in anger Acherina pushed again, Kira's feet sliding a few inches until she dug her feet into the ground to stop. With a downward push from both of them the two skidded away from each other until to leap forward and lock weapons again. The machine princess wasn't going to outdone this time however and brought her knee up to strike her opponent in the gut, making the yellow ranger nearly double over and allowing Acherina to elbow her in the back as well.

"You rangers always act so noble but by the end of the day you're nothing more then a bunch of weak human teenagers."

"You forget that it was that so called weak human teenagers," Kira grunted in response, wrapping her arm around Acherina's and stepping forward to close the gap, "that beat the Machine Empire back in ninety six."

A retaliatory punch and elbow from yellow to the princess caused the machine foe yelp in shock and the two moved to lock weapons once again.

Flicking her wrist the yellow dino thunder ranger knocked the bow to the side and lashed out once more. The blade of her weapon flashed yellow as it moved in a vertical arc, hitting both Acherina and her bow as well as causing a slight crack in the grip of the bow that passed by the archer's notice. Pressing her attack Kira continued to strike the bow, the crack slowly growing with each strike until the machine princess had enough and struck back, Kira leaping back a few times to avoid the attack. However the yellow ranger misjudged and the distance between the two was greater then she had wanted.

"Ha you fool! I won't allow you to close the gap again!" Acherina shreeched as she readied and fired another arrow, "you think that your precious family can beat my powerful family? You are sorely mistaken!"

The line of the arrows that the princess fired, Kira noted, were starting to grow sporadic, with each arrow missing by a wider margin. Sometimes Acherina would get luck and an arrow would strike close to home, with Kira having to move to avoid the attack, but even still the yellow Dino Thunder ranger didn't move to get closer. This in itself confused and irritated the machine princess.

"Are you MOCKING ME?!" Acherina roared as she watched the ranger in front of her smile, "You think I won't beat you do you? You think that you have a hope of winning? I'll stroke you down where you stand!"

Drawing three arrows Acherina took aim, ready to finish off her foe and go aid whoever she needed in defeating the rest of the group that dared defied him. Kira however noticed that the princess's bow was starting to wear, the crack that she started having grown that she knew what was coming next.

And right she was.

Pulling back on the string of the bow Acherina released it from her hand, her mind playing out the arrows flying forward and striking Kira, ending the pathetic ranger's life. But what she wasn't prepared for was for the bow to snap releasing enough power that, with the energy from her arrows, exploded in her hand and shattered not only the bow but destroyed her arm as well. Clutching her now destroyed arm, Acherina backed away and looked down in shock, her mind trying to process what just happened as Kira walked over to her.

"M-my arm! You destroyed my arm!" she cried in protest, looking back up at the ranger, "How can I stand next to my love if I'm not perfect!"

"I didn't destroy your arm, you did cause you didn't notice the damage to your weapon," Kira pointed out shaking her head, "and if you're worried about being perfect then here's a newsflash, no one is perfect."

Acherina growled as she feel to her knee, forced to look up at the yellow Dino Thunder ranger in disdain.

"Damage that you caused! I swear to you ranger, fake or not, I will get my revenge you you!" she cried in response, "my family will bury your's in the dirt of the moon, my family will…"

"My family," Kira cut her off, "is going to take your family out once and for all Acherina, and we're going to make sure that you'll never return."

Kim huffed as she traded blows with the queen, Machina showing just how powerful she was with each hit. In the back of her mind the original pink ranger knew full well that she was out of practice, not out of shape mind you but it had been awhile since she had taken up arms against the forces of evil.

The two "queens" locked their wrist together and circled around each other, Machina stamping her foot on the ground where Kim's had been a second before. A swift kick from Machina sent the two spinning through the air, Kim being forced to release her opponent as she fell to the ground. Pulling out her fan Machina threw it at the original pink ranger with said ranger rolling out of the way. The fan bounced around until it was back in its owner's hands, Machina using it's razor sharp edge to attack and push Kim back until she couldn't run any further.

"And here I thought you'd be a threat little girl," Machina laughed as Kim's back touched the wall, "but here you are trapped like a weak, little, mouse."

"A weak mouse? Is that really the best you could come up with?" Kim huffed, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh please you're hardly a threat, the only reason you're here is because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time," the machine queen scoffed, airing herself with her fan, "you're no more irritating than that pink ranger I had to deal with."

Kim's eye twitched in irritation at that remark but she took a deep breath and smiled sweetly. The smile took Machina by surprise, the robotic queen squaring up to her opponent as the air between them seemingly filled with energy.

"You forget..." Kim whispered loud enough for Machina to hear.

Machina didn't give her the chance to continue her statement though, lunging forward and attacking the original pink ranger only to be blocked and knocked back by a quick but forceful kick. Gasping in shock Queen Machina looked up at the human, said human spinning around on the balls of her feet and launching into a series of backflips that landed her behind Machina. Spinning around the machine queen was caught off guard as Kimberly backhanded her, causing Machina to once again spin through the air. Without missing a beat Kimberly jumped after her and struck her once again to knock her into the ground and sending her skidding across the floor.

"Gah! You dare to strike the queen of the Machine Empire?!" Machina hissed in disbelief, "you impudent fool I'll show you what it means to challenge royalty."

Flicking her wrist she threw her fan at the original pink ranger, Kimberly performing some more backflips before leaping into the air and grabbing the fan. Holding it out in front of her Kim flicked it open and held it up to cover the lower half of her face.

"As I was saying Machina," Kim continued, "you may have had to fight Kat when the Zeo team was active, but I'M the original pink ranger."

With blinding speed Kim threw the fan back at it's owner, the fan creating a gash across the queen's chest. A chill came over Machina as she looked down at the gash, her trembling hand clutching at it in shock. Acherina yelped as she was tossed over to where Machina was, Kira running over and joining her predecessor as the four faced off against each other.

"You two…" Machina growled glaring at them, "you have no idea who you're dealing with, you'll pay for damaging us!"

"You know I'm getting tired of listening to you," Kim sighed shaking her head, "what about you Kira?"

Kira nodded, twirling her Ptera Grips as she shifted into her fighting stance.

"I couldn't agree more."

The two shared a smile, the chill that the two female machines felt returning as they took a step back. Their backs hit the wall though and the two rangers took no time in closing the gap between the four of them. A flash of yellow and pink energy filled the area, and the cry of their zords echoed around them as they delivered the final blow to Machina and Archerina, the two letting loose their own cries of defeat as they exploded. Grabbing a hold of Kira, Kim pulled her over and covered the younger girl so that none of the potential debris could hit her, a heatwave covering the two for a seconds before dying out, the original pink ranger releasing Kira afterwards.

"Well that's the end of that," Kim whispered, slightly relieved.

"It's not over yet," Kira muttered dusting herself off, "we still have Mondo and Gasket to deal with, not to mention Venjix and whatever Cogs are left."

"Well have to handle Venjix and the Cogs when we catch up to them," Kim nodded pushing some of Kira's hair out of her face, "As for Mondo and Gasket…"

The two looked over at the four males duking it out, Conner and Gasket nailing each other in the gut at the same time while Tommy and Mondo's fight was more them blocking each other's attack.

"That might be a different story," she shook her head, "I doubt those two are going to let us interfere."

"Well we're not going to let them have that choice," Kira smirked, Kim smiling in response, "I did pick a couple of things from you and Kat besides fighting styles."

The two women nodded, their plan set, and rushed off towards where their boys were, ready to finish off the rest of the royal family once and for all.


	17. Chapter 15 pt2

Conner smirked as he kicked off a wall, launching himself over Gasket and landing behind the prince. Spinning around he kicked Gasket in the back, catching him off guard and knocking him into the wall much to the displeasure of the royal son. Getting up Gasket huffed and dusted himself off as Conner moved to stand in front of him, the younger red ranger using his foot to kick up a metal rod into his hand.

"I see you have some moves," remarked the Machine Empire Prince unimpressed.

"Took you this long to figure that out, you wound me."

"Yes and it seems you inherited your father's irritating habit of trading verbal jabs," Gasket snarled, resummoning his sword, "perhaps I'll take this opportunity to cut out that tongue of yours."

"No thanks, I prefer to keep my body the way it is," Conner replied, becoming a blur and dashing towards Gasket.

The metal bar hit Gasket across his chest, Gasket skidding across the floor as Conner vaults over him and strikes him a second time. Growling Gasket reached up and grasped the staff before it could hit him again, snapping it in his hand. Tossing the broken part to the side the prince stood up and blocked the red rangers next attack, grabbing a hold of him and nailing him in the gut before tossing him away.

"How is it that you're seemingly more annoying than that fool you call a father?" he growled as Conner rose to his feet.

"Oh I'm sure I could come up with a few reasons…"

Fixing his grip on the bar so that he held it more like a sword Conner readied himself for round two, Gasket wasting no time and lashing out at him. The two lashed out and blocked each other with a practiced ease but the younger red ranger was beginning to note that the Prince had a bit of an advantage over him when it came to swords.

'I need to find a way to finish this and fast,' he thought as he jumped back from on of Gasket's attacks.

"Getting tired young ranger?" Gasket asked pushing harder, "that's human weakness for you I suppose."

Conner snorted and shook his head, noticing Gasket was attacking him while he was distracted.

Rolling out of the way, managing to dodge the blade about to hit him, the red ranger found his back against a wall and, of course, Gasket charging him once again. Jumping up Conner grabbed a hold of a low hanging walkway and used that to pull himself up, Gasket's sword now embedded into the steel of the wall he was just in front of.

"Okay, I think it's time to even the odds," the younger ranger grunted, holding out his hand, "you get a sword so I should have one as well, Zeo Power Sword!"

Jumping down from the walkway Conner brought his sword down, landing and sliding pass Gasket. His blade flowing red, the red ranger lashed and struck the machine prince, however Gasket had the same idea and struck the red ranger as well. Sparks flew from both of them as the two stumbled back, taking a second to right themselves before attacking again.

"Tell me red ranger, that pink one is close to you isn't she," Gasket questioned a few minutes later.

Conner narrowed his eyes at this, his silence saying all Gasket needed to know and making him laugh.

"Perfect then perhaps I'll aid my fiancee in destroying her once I'm done with you, then we'll take care of your annoying parents, after all we can't have them vowing revenge can we?"

"... You know, I know you're trying to piss me off…"

Conner closed his eyes and opened them a second later, his eyes flashing green.

"And it's working."

Mondo's staff swung down towards the older red ranger, Tommy stepping out of the way and on the staff to keep it there. Spinning around he kicked the machine king away from his weapon and then kicked it up into his hand before twirlling it.

"Gotta say Mondo your weapon maybe kinda gaudy," Tommy taunted holding it out for him to see, "but I think I can make it work."

"You will relinquish my staff at once," Mondo ordered getting up, "You are unfit to use it much less touch it."

Tommy smirked and leapt forward, kicking off Mondo's shoulder and spinning in midair to strike him across the back. Landing the legendary ranger span around and performed multiple spin licks to keep Mind off balance. Finally catching on to what his nemesis was doing the machine king grabbed a hold of Tommy's ankle, using his momentum to toss him away. Falling to the ground Tommy grunted but got to his feet quickly, wiping away a little blood that trickled from a cut on his lip. He spotted the scepter between them and was ready to pounce for it when it flew away from him and into Mondo's hand.

"There back where it should be," Mondo nodded approvingly.

"Okay I'll admit I wasn't expecting that from you," he smirked standing up fully, "and here I thought you'd just be some washed up pile of scrap without any new tricks."

Mondo sneered at that taunt.

"A pile of scrap you say, I am a king and you shall treat me as thus."

"Yeah that's going to happen."

Mondo fired a laser from his staff, Tommy jumping out of the way as the impact exploded behind him. Jumping over some crates he kicked one of the ones on top and send it towards Mondo, the Machine King knocking it away with ease. Grunting in annoyance he kicked a few more before moving out of the way as the robot fired some more lasers at him.

"Come now Thomas I recalled you were much stronger when we last fought," Mondo remarked as he looked around for the hidden ranger, "has old age finally gotten to you?"

"Please I'm way younger than you," Tommy chuckled, shaking his head, "have your circuits finally fried enough to make you forget that?"

Mondo laughed as well, turning towards the sound of Tommy's voice.

"I'll allow that one Thomas, after all both of us are past our prime," Mondo mused, "perhaps once we're done here I'll hand my empire over to Gasket, allow him to rule."

"You have a lot of faith in someone who you disowned because of who he loved," the older ranger fired off as he switched hiding spots, "what has this little family reunion allowed you to love him again?"

Mondo fired another laser at where he thought Tommy was, the crates blowing up. As the smoke and dust settled the Machine King was surprised to see that his target wasn't there in the debris.

"Impossible!"

"Better watch your back Mondo!" Tommy stated kicking him in the back.

Mondo's limbs flailed as he fell to the ground, Tommy rolling his shoulder.

"So do we want to finish this now or do I have to embarrass you some more?"

Mondo growled as he finally got up, his attention torn away as he heard his wife crying out before the sound of an explosion. Looking over to where the girls were fighting he was distraught to see both Machina and Acherina falling to the ground as they were defeated.

"Alright way to go Kim and Kira!" Tommy grinned giving them a thumbs up.

"...You realize Thomas that their deaths will not go unpunished," Mondo whispered after a few seconds, "your female companions will pay dearly for that."

Turning to his son Mondo saw that he was currently locked in a struggle with Tommy's son and called out.

"Gasket over here post haste!"

Gasket, who had locked blades with Conner before seeing the destruction of his fiancee, trembled in anger, pushing Conner and away and attempting to deliver a fatal blow the red ranger before hearing his father. He hesitated for a moment before quickly going to father's side, Conner doing the same as the two father-son duos faced each other.

"My wife...my beautiful and loving wife, as well as my future daughter-in-law, destroyed," Mondo hissed, slamming the butt of his secptor onto the ground.

"Father allow me to finish these vile heroes of justice off once and for all!" Gasket pleaded, his anger and want for revenge clear.

"No Gasket, it's clear that we shouldn't separate from each other," The king stated, "we are stronger together, however once we have knocked them down to the point they can no longer fight, I shall allow you to deliver the final blow on those two who destroyed our beloveds."

Gasket seemed to tremble in excitement at this. Soon, he realized, he would have his revenge soon, and he would make sure to keep the younger red ranger alive long enough for him to witness the fall of that wannabe pink ranger.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Conner mumbled to his father, Tommy nodding in agreement, "so what do we do?"

"What we were doing, but we can't just go in without a plan this time."

Conner laughed and shook his head, Tommy glaring at his son.

"You have something you want to say?"

"Sorry but...going in without a plan is kind of our way isn't it?" Conner smirked, the older ranger shaking his head and smirking as well.

"Can't really argue that one," he sighed, "But even still Gasket and Mondo aren't to be taken lightly."

"Neither were, Goldar, Zeltrax, or Messagog, and we beat all of them."

"Conner…"

"Alright, alright I'll be careful."

The two groups sized each other up once more before jumping into the fray again. Sliding across the ground, Conner leaned back and narrowly avoid Gasket's bladed weapon as Tommy jumped over the prince and kicked Mondo. Taking a hold of Conner's hand Tommy spun him around, allowing him to strike both Mondo Minds and Gasket, knocking them back. Once he landed Conner attacked Gasket once more and slashed the Prince across the chest. Gasket moving in to parry and to knock the blade from Conner's hand. The two side stepped each other and sparks flew from their weapons as they spun on the spot and attacked again, the swords finding purchase on their opponent. Conner grunted as Gasket's blade struck his shoulder, but felt that it was almost worth it when he managed to take a piece of metal from Gasket's hip.

"Gr…impudent brat!"

"I'm almost twenty one," Conner retorted shaking his head, "I swear I get no respect."

Preparing for another attack, Conner was ready to go for round whatever it was when he heard a sharp cry, a wave of nearly clear yellow energy knocking Gasket off his feet. Looking towards where the attack came from he saw Kira running over to him, his yellow ranger smirking at him.

"You looked like you could use some help," she teased.

"Only if you're willing to give it," he grinned in return, the two turning to face the prince, "think it's time to end this."

Kira nodded, hearing Gasket grunt as he got up still disoriented from the surprise attack.

"You two, I'm going to enjoy destroying you both once and for all," he hissed, clenching his fist, "you will pay for destroying my Acherina!"

Tommy grabbed a hold of Mondo's scepter again, twisting his body so that he could step in closer and strike the king. With Mondo stunned by the attack Tommy took the opportunity to strike one more time, his fist aglow with green, white, red, and black energy. The attack caused the metal plate covering the king's chest and up around his shoulders to crack, energy glowing out of him.

"Gah! My armor!"

"And there's more where that came from," Tommy promised crouching down, "Saba!"

The white saber appeared in Tommy's hand, and the return of an old friend made him smirk before another thought came to him. Reaching out to the morphing grid he held out his other hand and called out a second time.

"Dragon Dagger!"

Green and white lightning sparked from each weapon for a few seconds, crawling up Tommy's arm and stinging slightly, but the original green ranger was able to hold his ground until it was over. Mondo couldn't wrap his mind around what was going on, seeing the two weapons in Tommy's hands had confused him. He had knowledge that the one he was fighting wasn't always Zeo V but he had never expected to see these weapons in combat. Mondo quickly struck his scepter on the floor, a shield barely blocking the green lightning sent by Tommy, the ranger firing lasers from Saba a second after that. Leaping forward the original green ranger crossed his blades and slashed at Mondo in an attempt to finish the fight, but Mondo persisted, placing his own weapon in between them and halting the ranger's movement.

"Face the facts Thomas you can't always win," Mondo sneered, "nothing will stop the forces of evil!"

"I've had my fair share of failures Mondo, but fighting you, fighting against evil I'll always keep fighting."

Pushing as hard as he could the green ranger kicked Mondo away and jumped back to avoid an attack, skidding to a halt next to Kim. The two of them glanced over at where Conner and Kira were fighting Gasket and then back over to Mondo.

"And we might not be able to completely wipe out the forces of evil," Kim added summoning her Power Bow and arrow, "but we'll always place a wall between them and the citizens of Earth."

Mondo fired an energy beam at the two, Tommy rolling forward and then leapt towards Mondo to attack. Kim rolled to the side and fired an arrow, but the Machine King blocked the projectile only to be struck by Tommy, his two blades creating another gash on the armor. Jumping over Mondo, the legendary ranger kicked him in the back towards his wife, Kimberly striking him across the face with her bow with enough force to knock him down. With a flicker of white and pink energy the two called upon a dormant power, the cry of a falcon and a crane echoing before two flashes of energy struck the machine king. Sparks came from the now motionless body of Mondo, though the two older rangers could hear the whirl of cogs and other such robotic parts indicating he was still alive for the moment.

"Been a while since we've done that," Kim muttered rubbing her wrist, "I've almost forgotten what ninjetti felt like."

"I know what you mean, but thankfully it's like riding a bike," Tommy smirked at her, Gasket's yelp of shock drawing his attention as he was flipped onto the ground next to his father, Kira and Conner joining the two, "you two okay?"

"Yeah we're fine, no problems whatsoever."

"Gasket didn't stand a chance against the two of us together," Kira smirked, nudging her red ranger, "right?"

"Heh I mean I probably could've taken him myself…"

The younger red ranger winced as both the female rangers glared at him, daring him to say another word as his father silently motioned for him to stop. Rubbing the back of his head Conner gave a sheepish grin.

"I mean yeah he didn't stand a chance once the two of us teamed up."

"Nice save jock," the yellow Dino Thunder ranger rolled her eyes, but allowed the comment to pass nonetheless.

"Alright we just need to finish up here and we can rejoin the others," Tommy stepped in looking over at the king and prince of the Machine Empire, "With the four of us it shouldn't be a problem."

The other three nodded, ready to finish the fight and head back home. Getting to his feet Gasket could feel the damage done to his body thanks to the combined efforts of both of the younger fighters. His armor was cracked, missing decent chunks in varying places, and his sword was beginning to show signs of being near to breaking as well. And that was merely on the outside. On the inside he could feel his systems nearing critical status, and a look at his father could show that he was in even worse shape.

"G-Gasket," Mondo's voice cracked, more sparks coming from him, "G-Gasket come to me…"

"Father," the prince grunted, crawling over to him, "father it'll be alright, once we're done here we'll get you fixed up and…"

"No Gasket," Mondo cut him off, "the task...the task falls to you, avenge...our...family…"

As Mondo spoke his chest plate opened up and he pulled out a glowing orb, handing it to his son much to the surprise of the rangers.

"Take...my...my power and find victory," Mondo said before shutting down.

The orb pulsed with power, joined shortly after with the orbs from his mother and fiancee, before being absorbed into his body and causing him to glow. His body started to repair itself, turning gold and black as he stood up, his fallen father's scepter flying into his hand.

"You rangers…" he growled as the ground started to shake, "you rangers shall pay for what you have done here."

The four took a step back, unsure of how to handle this powered up foe whose energy seemed to grow more with each passing second.

"I am no longer Prince Gasket," he declared, "I am now KING GASKET!"


End file.
